IRLF 


B    3    727    ESS 


THIS  VOLUME  is  PRESENTED  TO  You 

IN      LOVING      MEMORY      OF 

ALFRED      BELDEN      RICE 

BY    HIS    FATHER    AND    MOTHER 
PHILADELPHIA.    1919 


ALFRED  BELDEN  RICE 
1878-1903 


A  Life  of  Preparation 

Metrical  Versions  of  the  Psalms  in 

English  and  Literary 

Writings  of 

ALFRED  BELDEN  RICE 


Edited  by  His  Father 
with  an  Introductory  Note  by  PROF.  FELIX  E.  SCHELLING 


P5 
3535" 


CONTENTS 


\°\\l 


Introductory  Note  by  Felix  E.  Schelling  ...........  .  .......    5 

A  Life  of  Preparation  ....................................  1  1 

Metrical  Versions  of  the  Psalms  in  English  —  A  Fragment  ....  23 

In  the  Bret  Harte  Country  —  from  Alumni  Register,  Uni- 

versity of  Pennsylvania,  1903  .........................  43 

"Oversea  Notes"*  in  the  Leisure  Hour,  London: 

Advertising  Nuisance  in  America  (Oct.,  1902)  ...........  49 

English  Verse  (Oct.,  1902)  ............................  50 

Life  at  High  Altitudes  (Sept.,  1903)  ...................  51 

Business  Methods  in  American  Universities  (Sept.,  1903).  52 
Summer  Schools  in  the  United  States  (Apr.,  1903)  .......  53 

How  Tramps  Travel  (Apr.,  1903)  .....................  54 

Sight-seeing  Trolley  Cars  in  America  (Dec.,  1902)  .......  55 

Chicago  Drainage  Canal  (Dec.,  1902)  ..................  56 

Passing  of  the  American  Cowboy  (Dec.,  1902)  ..........  57 

The  College  Girl  and  Matrimony  (June,  1902)  ..........  58 

Dining  on  American  Railways  (Oct.,  1903)  .............  59 

A  Negro  University  (Oct.,  1903)  ......................  60 

From  Unpublished  Papers: 

Tannhauser  Legends  .................................  62 

Hiram  Porter  McGinniss  ............................  68 

Ethan  Allen  Monument  ..............................  72 

Wordsworth  ........................................  74 

*Selected  from  upward  of  fifty  contributions  to  the  Leisure  Hour. 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

by 
FELIX  E.  SCHELLING,  PH.  D.,  LL.D. 

Professor  of  English  Language  and  Literature 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 

Several  years  ago,  it  was  my  privilege,  during  the 
college  sessions  of  three  years,  to  make  the  acquaintance 
of  Mr.  Alfred  Belden  Rice.  On  first  meeting  him  as  a 
student,  I  was  attracted  by  his  alert  and  attentive  face, 
and  soon  learned  to  recognize  in  him  an  unusual  eager- 
ness in  the  pursuit  of  his  studies,  a  fine  independence  of 
K"  adgment  and  an  ambition  never  to  leave  a  task  until 
e  had  thoroughly  completed  it.  These  traits,  combined 
as  they  were  with  excellent  natural  abilities  and  with  a 
charming  modesty  as  to  himself  and  his  attainments, 
soon  endeared  him  to  me,  as  to  all  who  knew  him,  and 
his  untimely  death  severed  only  too  soon  a  friendship 
which,  I  feel  sure,  would  have  been  enduring. 

Young  Mr.  Rice  was  the  furthest  possible  from  the 
type  of  student  who  seems  intent  only  upon  the  goal  of 
a  degree  and  is  willing  to  take  any  short  cut  to  the 
attainment  of  it.  We,  who  teach  are,  perhaps,  not  as 
frequently  deluded  by  these  hunters  after  opportunities 
as  they  may  themselves  suspect.  I  am  not  prepared  to 
say  that  experience  in  teaching  brings  with  it  the 
ability  to  divide  students  into  types;  it  is  better 
perhaps  to  recognize  that  each  human  individual  is 
after  all  a  type  in  himself.  Among  the  young,  however, 
there  is  a  tendency  either  to  accept  guidance  in  a  spirit 
of  blind  and  docile  willingness  to  be  relieved  of  the 
tedium  of  too  much  thinking,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
assume  a  pert  attitude  of  question  as  to  practically 
everything  that  is  said  or  thought  by  those  who  have 
had  the  misfortune  to  come  into  the  world  before  these 
inheritors  of  the  wealth  of  all  time. 


My  memory  recalls  young  Mr.  Rice  as  of  neither 
of  these  types;  modest,  gentle,  willing  to  undertake 
whatever  task  was  required  of  him  and  interested  in 
the  doing  of  it,  he  was  of  the  type  of  student  that  makes 
teaching  easy,  alike  for  his  personality  and  for  the 
genuine  love  of  learning  which  was  his.  His  promise 
was  great ;  unhappily  fulfillment  was  denied  him. 

The  study  of  the  English  translations  of  the 
Psalms  was  undertaken  by  Mr.  Rice  in  consequence  of 
certain  work  assigned  to  him  in  a  graduate  course  in 
English  lyrical  poetry  which  I  conducted.  As  I  remem- 
ber it,  the  initiative  as  to  this  as  a  choice  of  subject  for 
further  research  came  from  Mr.  Rice  himself,  a  circum- 
stance in  itself  rare  among  graduate  students.  He 
recognized,  from  the  first,  that  the  Psalms  of  David, 
this  greatest  inspiration  of  the  spirit  of  worship,  must 
prove  a  fruitful  subject,  diligently  pursued  from 
Elizabethan  times  to  our  own,  in  the  resonance,  so  to 
speak,  of  kindred  poetical  souls.  For  if  poetry  is  the 
expression  of  the  age,  in  these  translations  should  be 
found  much  of  the  best,  the  most  devout,  the  most 
fervent  of  that  expression.  It  is  fair  to  remind  the 
reader  that  this  work  was  only  begun.  I  remember  well 
an  interview,  unhappily  destined  to  be  the  last  which 
we  had  upon  the  subject,  in  which  we  discussed  its 
wider  possibilities,  and  I  recall  the  quiet  zeal  and 
determination  of  the  young  student  to  take  the  time 
to  make  his  work  as  perfect  as  possible.  What  he  has 
left  us  must  be  judged  as  a  fragment,  a  worthy  promise 
only  of  what  he  might  have  made  it.  And  it  is  certainly 
better  that  the  work  should  be  presented  in  the  state 
in  which  he  left  it,  rather  than  with  such  changes  as 
might  obscure  and  confuse  his  part.  At  the  time  when 
this  work  was  undertaken  far  less  had  been  done  on  the 
general  subject  of  the  Psalms  and  their  history  in 
English  literature  than  since.  Assuredly  Mr.  Rice,  had 
he  been  spared,  would  never  have  allowed  his  work  to 
see  the  light  except  upon  the  basis  of  a  full  acquaint- 
ance not  only  with  the  existing  material  but  with  all 


commentary  on  his  topic.  Ingenuousness,  honesty  and 
thoroughness  were  conspicuous  traits  in  his  character. 
Equipment  such  as  this  unquestionably  would  have 
made  him  an  admirable  investigator  in  whatever  field 
of  research  he  might  have  followed. 

We  who  work  in  the  history  of  letters  find  the  most 
touching  chapter  of  all  in  the  blighted  promises  of  what 
might  have  been.  Marlowe,  with  possibilities  in 
tragedy  that  might  have  rivalled  Shakespeare,  to  be 
realized  only  in  the  tragedy  of  his  own  short  life; 
Chatterton,  marvellous  boy,  with  the  genius  of  a  great 
poet,  gone  before  he  reached  manhood ;  Keats,  with  the 
promise  of  even  more  than  the  precious  fame  which  is 
immortally  his:  these  are  the  real  tragedies  of  the 
history  of  literature.  And  not  less  touching  in  their 
more  modest  place  are  the  unfulfillments  of  scholarship 
and  youthful  ambition,  delicate  flowers  of  broken  stalk 
to  be  appraised  with  the  tenderness  of  love,  not  with 
the  askance  of  criticism. 

On  the  tender  memorial  of  a  young  and  beautiful 
life  I  am  proud  to  have  been  asked  to  carve  my  simple 
inscription. 


SKETCH  OF 
ALFRED  BELDEN  RICE 

by 
EDWIN  WILBUR  RICE 


A  Life  of  Preparation 

THE  quality  of  life  is  of  more  importance  than  the  quantity. 
Life  is  more  truly  measured  by  right  thoughts,  noble  aspira- 
tions, good  intentions,  uplifting  influences,  generous  activ- 
ities, and  unselfish  services,  than  by  the  number  of  years.  Life 
is  short,  or  life  is  long,  according  as  it  fulfils  life's  chief  end.  It 
may  be  few  in  years,  yet  abounding  in  vitality  and  love.  It  may 
be  full  of  years,  and  yet  empty  of  fruit  as  the  barren  fig  tree. 

This  interpretation  of  life  found  expression  in  thousands  of 
young  lives  sacrificed  on  the  battlefields,  and  in  thousands  of 
homes  during  the  world  war  for  righteousness  and  humanity.  In 
the  final  reckoning  not  the  number  of  years,  but  the  waste,  or 
the  wise  use,  of  them  will  determine  the  award.  Thus  the  record 
of  a  life  brief  in  years  may  teach  some  lessons  of  virtue  and  of 
value  that  might  be  lacking  in  one  of  the  longest  lives. 

Alfred  Belden  Rice  had  completed  his  short  life  more  than 
ten  years  before  the  great  war,  but  it  has  seemed  to  many  who 
knew  him  that  a  sketch  of  his  life  and  character,  and  some  of  his 
writings,  would  forcibly  illustrate  this  suggestive  interpretation 
of  the  problems  of  human  life,  and  it  might  comfort  and  cheer 
other  pilgrims  in  their  struggles  and  sorrows  on  the  way  to  the 
haven  of  rest. 

This  tribute  of  affection  and  love  has  been  deferred  for 
reasons  unnecessary  now  to  relate.  Though  the  delay  has  not 
much  lessened  the  sense  of  the  loss  in  the  home,  it  has  softened 
the  acuteness  of  grief,  and  it  has  given  a  better  perspective  to 
judge  of  his  activities,  motives,  and  character.  Time  has  revealed 
the  latter  in  greater  and  truer  value. 

It  is  good  to  be  well-born.  Alfred  Belden  Rice  delighted  to 
trace  his  Pilgrim  ancestry  back  through  his  mother  to  the  time 
of  the  Mayflower  and  through  his  father  in  a  New  England 
family  into  which  there  came  a  liberal  spicing  of  the  north  of 
Ireland  and  old  English  blood. 

He  was  the  youngest  son  of  Dr.  Edwin  Wilbur  Rice,  Sr.,  and 
Mary  Gardner  Rice,  and  was  born  in  Philadelphia  September 
20,  1878.  In  early  infancy  he  was  dedicated  to  the  Lord  and  was 
fostered  in  the  lap  of  love,  but  not  of  luxury. 

The  home  of  his  childhood  was  an  ordinary  dwelling  in  a 
quiet  but  growing  section  of  the  city.  Across  the  street,  opposite 
to  it,  stood  a  rather  pretentious  brown-stone  residence  within 
a  pretty  private  park.  Behind  the  home  were  several  open  lots, 
which  the  children  were  allowed  to  appropriate  temporarily  for 

[ii] 


a  playground.  Within,  the  home  was  plainly  but  comfortably 
furnished  in  a  style  betokening  neither  poverty  nor  riches.  The 
daily  fare  was  simple  and  the  habits  of  the  family  were  free  from 
affectation.  Each  member  voluntarily  aimed  to  render  some 
definite  service  that  would  add  to  the  comfort  and  pleasure  of  all. 

The  children  were  thus  left  free  to  lead  and  enjoy  a  true 
child  life  and  not  to  be  robbed  of  the  joys  and  benefits  of  real 
childhood.  Possessed  of  a  lively  disposition  and  an  active  and 
resourceful  mind,  young  Alfred  was  often  the  center  of  a  little 
circle  of  boys  and  girls  of  his  own  age.  He  mingled  joyously  and 
helpfully  in  their  games,  their  plays,  their  parades  and  masquer- 
ades, and  was  able  to  suggest  some  new  forms,  or  new  changes 
in  their  common  sports  that  made  the  little  friends  welcome  him 
into  their  circle. 

He  had  hereditary  peculiarities,  and  was  not  free  from  faults 
and  foibles,  for  he  was  an  intensely  human  child.  While  not 
specially  precocious,  he  was  sometimes  amazingly  witty  for  a 
little  child.  Thus  when  he  had  been  given  what  his  mother 
thought  was  good  for  him  at  the  table,  he  still  begged  for  more 
until  his  mother  cautiously  assented  saying  that  he  might  have 
just  one  spoonful  more.  The  child  gave  a  mischievous  smile, 
slipped  quietly  down  from  his  high  chair  into  the  kitchen, 
re-appearing,  to  the  surprise  of  his  mother,  with  the  biggest 
spoon  he  could  find,  which  was  used  for  a  ladle,  instead  of  pre- 
senting the  little  teaspoon  lying  beside  his  plate. 

EDUCATION 

The  A  B  C's  and  the  art  of  reading,  Alfred  very  early  mas- 
tered in  the  home  by  observation  and  by  a  little  assistance  from 
his  older  brothers.  His  outside  schooling  began  in  a  private 
kindergarten  class  and  was  continued  in  the  public  grammar 
schools  of  the  city,  and  in  the  usual  course  in  the  Central  High 
School.  He  was  awarded  a  scholarship  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  pursued  the  Arts  Course,  graduating  in 
1900.  For  his  scholarly  attainments  and  conduct  there,  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  in  his  junior 
year.  At  his  graduation  he  was  again  awarded  a  scholarship, 
giving  him  the  opportunity  and  facilities  of  a  post-graduate 
course  in  Anglo-Saxon,  Old,  and  Middle  English,  with  its  allied 
studies  in  philosophy  and  English  literature.  This  was  to  pre- 
pare him  for  what  he  had  anticipated  to  be  his  life  work.  He  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  and  also  later  the  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts  in  1903,  and  he  hoped  to  have  been  a  qualified 
candidate  forthe  degree  of  Doctorof  Philosophy  the  following  year. 

He  plunged  into  his  school  studies,  as  into  other  things,*  with 
all  his  mind  and  might.  His  school  fellows  wondered  at  the 
apparent  facility  with  which  he  seemed  to  master  his  lessons. 

[12] 


They  imagined  that  he  possessed  some  unusual  gifts,  added  to  a 
special  love  for  learning,  and  the  native  instincts  of  a  scholar. 
He  had,  or  acquired,  the  power  of  close  application,  and  was 
exceedingly,  not  to  say  excessively,  diligent  in  whatever  he 
attempted.  His  eagerness  thoroughly  to  understand  subjects  of 
study  led  him  unconsciously  to  use  his  strength  to  the  danger 
point  for  his  physical  health.  When  in  the  High  School,  besides 
the  elementary  and  usual  course,  he  took  up  the  study  of  Latin, 
Greek,  and  German,  and  at  the  same  time  was  pursuing  a  special 
course  in  music.  In  the  University  Arts  Course,  beside  the  usual 
curriculum  of  Latin  and  Greek,  he  added  Hebrew,  of  course, 
studying  history,  physics,  philosophy,  with  some  archaeology, 
and  the  origin  of  language,  and  took  special  research  work  into 
the  structure  and  history  of  Anglo-Saxon,  Old,  Middle,  and 
Modern  English,  which  were  continued  in  post  graduate  work 
until  his  health  gave  way  under  the  strain.  He  was  willing  to  pay 
the  price  to  become  a  true  scholar.  How  far  he  succeeded  may 
be  inferred  from  the  statements  of  his  instructors  and  fellows 
given  on  a  later  page,  and  by  the  section  that  contains  selections 
from  his  criticisms  and  writings. 

WIDER  EDUCATION 

Nearly  three  centuries  ago  John  Milton  had  a  conception 
(and  there  is  none  better)  of  education,  saying  that  the  true  end 
of  learning  is  to  repair  the  ruin  of  the  race,  by  regaining  to  know 
God  aright,  and  out  of  that  knowledge  to  love  him,  to  be  like 
him,  as  we  may  be  the  nearest,  by  possessing  our  souls  of  true 
virtue,  united  to  the  heavenly  grace  of  faith.  To  the  studies  of 
schools  Milton  would  add  that  of  religion,  and  of  travel,  the 
latter  to  enlarge  experience,  to  make  wise  observation,  and  the 
acquaintance  and  friendship  of  men  of  honor  and  whatever  of 
things  and  people  are  best  and  most  eminent. 

Education  through  books  and  schools  is  good;  education  by 
personal  experience  among  men  of  affairs  and  in  society  and 
business  and  in  national  and  international  life  is  better.  It  aids 
the  student  to  gain  an  outlook  upon  real  life,  gives  him  wisdom, 
and  helps  to  train  his  mind  to  think  widely,  and  to  come  to  more 
accurate  judgments,  and  to  attain  those  elevated  ideals  which 
form  a  noble  character. 

The  opportunity  for  this  kind  of  wider  education  through 
travel,  to  gain  personal  experience  and  knowledge,  was  quickly 
seen  and  diligently  used  by  our  young  student.  From  his  child- 
hood Alfred  Rice  went  with  his  parents  each  summer  vacation 
to  different  sections  of  the  country,  ever  finding  scenes  and  sub- 
jects of  historic  interest,  observing  people's  habits,  modes  of  life 
and  of  speech,  and  becoming  more  familiar  with  the  background 
of  the  varied  events  and  characters  in  our  national  history. 

[13] 


Thus,  in  his  youth  two  or  more  summers  were  spent  at  differ- 
ent points  in  the  picturesque  valley  of  the  Deerfield  in  Massachu- 
setts. There  he  had  leisure  to  wander  into  the  places  made  his- 
toric by  the  Indian  massacres  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries.  He  could  examine,  at  leisure,  monuments  commem- 
orating these  events,  one  of  which  was  a  memorial  to  Captain 
Moses  Rice,  son  of  John  Rice.  Moses  Rice  was  in  command  of 
a  stockade  fort  for  the  protection  of  early  settlers  in  that  section. 
In  the  same  region  were  other  places  noted  as  the  birthplaces  of 
men  of  national  fame.  In  Conway,  Marshall  Field,  the  merchant 
prince  of  Chicago,  was  born,  and  on  the  hillside  to  the  west  of  it 
was  the  native  place  of  G.  Stanley  Hall,  the  educator,  and  to  the 
south,  the  childhood  home  of  the  famous  poet  and  author,  Wil- 
liam Cullen  Bryant,  while  to  the  west  of  it,  was  that  of  Charles 
Dudley  Warner.  The  little  post  town  of  Ashfield,  overlooking 
the  Deerfield  Valley,  was  the  outing  place  for  a  time  of  such 
literary  writers  as  George  William  Curtis  and  others. 

At  the  east  was  Shelburne  Mountain,  the  humble  home  of 
Fidelia  Fish,  one  of  the  earlier  woman  missionaries  to  Persia.  To 
the  north,  in  the  hill  towns  of  Heath,  Rowe,  and  Hawley,  it  was 
reputed  that  the  primitive  dialect  of  New  England  could  be 
heard  in  its  simplicity  and  in  its  purest  forms.  This  had  an 
exceptional  interest  to  the  young  scholar. 

Some  of  these  midsummer  outings  also  gave  facilities  for 
weeks  together,  to  explore  and  enjoy  the  attractions  of  the 
Atlantic  Coast  from  the  sandy  beach  of  Cape  May  to  the  rocky 
cliffs  of  Old  York,  with  its  charming  beach  and  bays.  Here  also 
authors,  artists,  merchants,  and  business  men  of  affairs  and  of  note, 
were  often  met — such  men  as  W.  D.  Howells,  Thomas  Nelson  Page, 
Ralph  Wells,  and  others  who  sought  quiet  rest  and  recreation. 

Other  vacations  gave  him  an  experience  of  life  in  the  high 
altitudes  of  the  mountains.  The  Catskills  and  the  White  Moun- 
tains possessed  great  attractions  for  him.  He  was  enthusiastic 
over  the  ascent  of  Mt.  Washington  to  gain  a  wide  view  of  the 
Presidential  range.  He  was  charmed,  as  every  other  visitor  has 
been,  by  rambles  through  Franconia  Notch,  and  in  looking  at  the 
Old  Stone  Face.  The  picturesque  scenery  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tains and  the  Connecticut  River  Valley  was  explored  with  youth- 
ful zest.  The  outings,  at  another  time,  took  him  into  the  heart 
of  the  Adirondack  wilderness,  the  secluded  home  of  the  deer, 
wherein  are  numberless  charming  lakes  with  their  trout,  bass, 
pickerel,  and  land-locked  salmon.  In  marked  contrast  to  this 
wilderness  were  the  excursions  into  the  Berkshire,  with  their 
palatial  cottages,  amid  the  most  picturesque  scenery  of  hill, 
valley,  lake,  and  fertile  farms  one  can  imagine. 

Historic  Saratoga,  its  medicinal  waters,  and  its  society  were 
also  often  visited,  but  they  had  less  attraction  for  him  than  the 

[14] 


scenery  of  Lake  George  and  Lake  Champlain.  He  followed  with 
deep  interest  the  line  of  Burgoyne's  famous  march  from  Mon- 
treal to  his  defeat  and  surrender  in  the  Battle  of  Saratoga.  He 
inspected  again  and  again  the  ruins  of  the  old  fort  Ticonderoga, 
the  dilapidated  barracks  and  fortifications  at  Crown  Point,  the 
monuments  at  Bennington  and  Burlington,  and  wandered 
through  the  gorge  of  the  Ausable  Chasm,  and  in  a  small  steamer 
was  excited  by  shooting  the  Lachine  Rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
The  view  of  Montreal  from  Mt.  Royal  charmed  him,  but  did 
not  satisfy  him  until  he  made  a  closer  examination  of  the  noted 
cathedrals,  buildings,  barracks,  and  streets  of  that  attractive 
Canadian  city.  He  wrote  out  at  the  time  sketches  of  these 
various  places,  and  secured  photographs  and  other  pictures  of 
them,  which  were  found  among  his  papers. 

Again  these  summer  travels  took  in  a  wider  sweep.  They 
included  weeks  of  roving  about  Niagara  Falls  and  the  Gorge, 
with  frequent  excursions  into  Canada.  They  extended  to  the 
middle  Northwest,  taking  in  Chicago  and  its  marvelous  growth, 
its  drainage  canal,  sailing  up  and  down  the  Mississippi,  the 
Father  of  Waters,  and  beyond  over  the  rolling  prairies  of  Iowa, 
across  the  Missouri  and  on  to  Denver,  a  city  a  mile  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.  From  there  tours  were  made  into  some  of  the 
numerous  canons  and  up  the  mountain  peaks  of  the  Rocky  range. 
The  young  man  was  excited  in  his  ascent  of  Pike's  Peak,  in 
exploring  the  mines  of  Cripple  Creek  and  Leadville,  drinking  the 
Medicine  Spring  waters  of  Manitou,  or  chatting  with  the  Pueblo, 
Ute,  and  other  Indian  tribes  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  until 
he  greeted  the  Pacific  at  Los  Angeles  and  San  Pedro.  He  was 
charmed  with  the  marine  gardens,  the  glass-bottomed  boats,  and 
the  flying  fish  of  Catalina  Island. 

He  found  many  special  attractions  along  the  Pacific  coast, 
such  as  the  old  Spanish  mission  buildings  of  San  Gabriel  and 
Santa  Barbara,  the  ostrich  farms,  the  Bret  Harte  country,  the 
Sonora  and  San  Joaquin  Valley,  the  Santa  Clara  Valley,  famous 
for  prunes,  the  Santa  Cruz  Valley  and  its  "  big  trees"  of  redwood, 
and  Mt.  Hamilton,  with  its  Lick  Observatory  and  telescope 
through  which  he  had  a  splendid  view  of  the  planet  Saturn  and 
her  brilliant  rings.  He  explored  San  Francisco  with  its  spacious 
harbor,  and  the  Golden  Horn,  not  overlooking  Leland  Stanford 
University,  and  the  University  of  California  at  the  very  charm- 
ing suburb  of  Berkeley. 

His  excursion  into  the  Bret  Harte  country  he  has  himself 
graphically  described  in  a  paper  which  will  be  found  in  a  later 
part  of  this  volume. 

Returning  eastward,  he  gave  time  to  brief  exploration  of 
Salt  Lake  and  some  peculiarities  of  the  Mormons. 


He  found  a  trip  around  the  Lake  from  Chicago  eastward  to 
possess  great  attractions,  from  the  historic  places  and  waters 
which  were  passed  in  that  journey,  as  well  as  great  pleasure  and 
benefit  to  his  health. 

Altogether  this  wider  education  added  much  to  the  sum  of 
his  knowledge  and  gave  him  a  broader  and  a  more  accurate  view 
of  life,  which  his  friends  and  fellow-associates  were  not  slow  to 
recognize. 

LOVE  OF  MUSIC 

The  fellow-students  of  Alfred  Rice  said  that  he  had  a  strong, 
almost  passionate  love  of  music.  The  taste  for  it,  inherited  from 
his  mother,  he  gratified  very  early  by  taking  lessons  on  the  piano 
and  on  other  musical  instruments,  attaining  more  than  ordinary 
skill  in  expression,  particularly  on  the  clarinet.  While  a  mere 
lad,  he  played  with  such  a  pleasing  personal  interpretation, 
the  music  of  well-known  composers  as  to  receive  the  happy 
plaudits  of  his  auditors  at  private  and  at  school  concerts. 

He  became  a  member  of  several  musical  organizations.  He 
was  connected  with  the  orchestra  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania during  his  student  life,  and  the  members  of  the  orchestra 
under  the  direction  of  Prof.  H.  A.  Clarke,  Mus.D.,  Professor  of 
Music  in  the  University,  often  met  for  rehearsals  at  his  home. 
He  was  persuaded  sometimes  to  join  with  other  members  of  the 
Orchestra  who  were  engaged  to  provide  music  during  the  season 
for  seaside  hotels.  He  was  also  sought  out  by  the  Director  of  the 
Philadelphia  Symphony  Society  to  take  part  in  some  of  its  public 
concerts  in  the  Academy  of  Music. 

Although  he  pursued  music  as  a  pastime  and  from  the  love 
of  it,  yet  he  did  not  permit  it  to  interfere  with  his  literary  studies. 
He  was  so  ready,  however,  to  contribute  to  the  enjoyment  of 
others  that  he  often  went  beyond  his  strength.  Missionary  E.  G. 
Fowler,  of  Salt  Lake,  on  learning  of  his  death,  says :  "  I  remember 
him  so  vividly  at  our  piano,  with  his  deft  fingers  drawing  out  his 
heart  and  ours.  His  musical  soul  will  have  its  fill  now."  And 
another  who  was  herself  a  singer  wrote:  "I  thought  of  him  at 
once  as  at  our  piano  where  he  entranced  us  by  his  execution,  and 
it  still  seems  but  as  yesterday." 

RELIGIOUS   LIFE 

Coming  of  a  Puritan  ancestry  Alfred  Rice's  religious  ideals 
and  faith  were  deep  and  sincere,  rather  than  demonstrative  or 
dogmatic.  He  had  no  sympathy  with  a  half-Christian,  half-pagan 
system  of  education.  He  was  not  misled  by  that  twisted  philos- 
ophy of  religion,  nor  by  that  perveted  interpretation  of  Christian- 
ity which  has  found  some  academic  and  scholastic  followers  in 
America,  and  which  in  the  country  of  its  origin  has  evolved  the 
superman,  and  come  to  its  full  fruitage  in  the  bloodiest  and  most 

[16] 


demonized  of  world-wars,  conspicuous  for  lust  and  cruelty  and 
murder,  surpassing  any  that  the  earth  ever  witnessed. 

The  theory  that  limited  education  to  the  physical  and  intel- 
lectual, to  the  neglect  in  whole  or  in  part  of  the  spiritual  nature 
of  man,  found  no  favor  with  him.  He  was  a  quiet  and  careful 
student  of  the  Christian  text-book  of  religion,  and  when  duty 
became  clear  to  him  he  voluntarily  became  a  member  by  con- 
fession of  the  Princeton  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia. 
He  was  also  an  active  member  of  Christian  Endeavor  societies, 
the  Sunday-school,  and  Bible  classes,  and  was  interested  in 
missions  and  other  organizations,  including  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  which  he  was  an  active  and 
helpful  worker. 

Of  the  nature  of  his  religious  life  and  influence,  the  Bible 
class  of  which  he  had  been  president,  in  a  minute  adopted  by  the 
class,  stated:  "We  loved  and  admired  him,  not  alone  for  his  high 
intellectual  attainments,  but  for  what  he  was  morally  and  spirit- 
ually." The  teacher  of  the  class  added,  "No  young  man  who 
has  passed  through  my  class  was  more  helpful  to  the  teacher  or 
class." 

A  prominent  Christian  worker  in  the  far  West  lovingly 
writes  of  him:  "The  memory  is  very  precious  to  me,  and  his  self- 
sacrificing,  kindly,  courteous  spirit  has  certainly  made  a  decided 
and  beneficial  influence  upon  me,  for  which  I  shall  have  constant 
reason  to  praise  God."  Another  leading  worker  says:  "In  our 
memory  there  is  a  sweet  perfume  of  a  refined  character,  a  loving 
disposition,  a  courteous  manner,  always  cheerful." 

The  depth  of  his  faith  and  the  power  of  God's  sustaining 
grace  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  a  scene  during  his  last  illness. 
Some  time  before  losing  consciousness,  he  called  his  mother  to 
his  bedside,  asking  her  to  pray  that  he  might  be  willing  to  yield 
himself  wholly  to  God's  will  as  he  had  already  prayed  himself 
that  he  might  have  strength  to  do.  If  he  was  to  live,  that  his  life 
might  be  more  useful;  if  not  to  live,  that  it  would  please  God  to 
take  him  soon,  and  to  spare  him  from  long,  severe  suffering.  God 
appeared  to  answer  these  prayers,  for  soon  afterward  he  passed 
into  an  unconscious  state  until  the  great  change  came. 

His  earthly  career  was  closed  at  Hinsdale,  Mass.,  in  the 
Berkshires,  October  I,  1903. 

A  life  of  preparation  which  seemed  short  reckoned  in  years, 
may  be  truly  long  when  measured  by  heart  throbs  of  love  and 
spiritual  experiences  that  continue  through  unnumbered  ages  and 
eons  in  the  endless  life. 

"And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  may  know  thee  the  only  true 
God,  and  him  whom  thou  didst  send,  even  Jesus  Christ" 


CHARACTER 

The  end  of  life  is  to  know  and  love  God,  the  end  of  educa- 
tion is  holy  character.  Alfred  Rice  sought  to  be  friendly  and 
helpful  to  others,  for  he  loved  to  have  friends.  He  hated  shams; 
he  was  chary  of  credit  for  himself,  preferring  rather  to  give  honor 
than  to  receive  it.  He  had  a  deep  interest  in  the  progress  of 
civil,  economical  and  social  betterment,  and  desired  to  contribute 
his  share  toward  the  advancement  of  humanity  and  liberty, 
virtue  and  righteousness.  His  outlook  on  life  and  its  activities 
was  remarkable  for  one  who  had  just  passed  his  twenty-fifth 
birthday.  How  wide  and  wise  that  outlook  was  can  be  inferred 
from  a  few  articles  selected  from  half  a  hundred  or  more  written 
to  the  London  magazine  Leisure  Hour,  which  appear  in  the  col- 
lection of  his  writings.  The  editor,  Dr.  C.  H.  Irwin,  said  of  the 
writer  of  these  articles:  "His  communications  which  appeared 
under  the  head  of  our  *  Oversea  Notes'  were  always  most  readable 
and  valuable.  He  had  the  happy  art  of  selecting  exactly  the 
facts  which  people  want  to  know,  and  of  expressing  his  ideas  in 
clear  and  concise  language."  Similar  commendations  of  his  other 
writings  were  expressed  by  Dean  Penniman,  Prof.  Weygandt, 
and  the  editor  of  the  Alumni  Register  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

But  a  sketch  of  the  outward  circumstances  and  events  of 
one's  life  does  not  really  touch  the  inner  nature  and  character  of 
that  life.  What  that  was  or  appeared  to  be  to  those  who  knew 
him  may  be  inferred  by  a  few  among  many  letters  sent  to  his 
family.  Referring  to  a  brief  summary  of  his  outward  life,  one  of 
his  most  intimate  college  associates  writes:  "But  in  a  life  like  his, 
what  a  small  part  is  played  by  the  unusual  career  in  the  literary 
field!  Far  as  the  strength  and  power  of  his  intellect  surpassed 
those  of  his  physical  frame,  even  so  far  did  the  attainment  of  his 
social  life  surpass,  uplift,  and  ennoble  his  mental  being,  directing 
his  keen  intelligence,  always  into  channels  and  pursuits  of  the 
loftiest  nature.  How  I  love  him!  I  will  not  say  Moved,'  for  the 
soul-life — the  only  life  that  really  counts — is  with  us  still,  in 
blessed  companionship,  and  will  be  forever." 

Another  of  his  University  classmates  says:  "I  have  lost 
one  who  was  even  more  to  me  than  my  dearest  college  friend.  I 
have  always  looked  forward  with  so  much  pleasure  to  the  time 
when  we  should  both  be  working  in  our  different  lines  of  work, 
and  I  have  thought  of  how  his  friendship  would  come  to  mean 
more  and  more." 

Still  another  writes:  "Alfred  is  OUT  dearest  comrade;  I  place 
him  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  my  friends;  he  was  so  good." 

Prof.  Felix  E.  Schelling,  under  whom  Mr.  Rice  studied, 
says:  "I  have  always  esteemed  him  for  his  talents  and  the 
conscientious  use  which  he  habitually  made  of  them;  above 

[18] 


all  for  a  simple  sincerity  of  character  which  endeared  him  to  us 
all.  I  know  that  he  is  fit — as  few  of  us  are  fit — for  that  after  life 
to  which  his  spirit  is  more  akin  than  to  this  world  of  ours." 

LITERARY  WORKS 

Although  but  a  young  man,  Alfred  Rice  was  a  frequent  con- 
tributor, as  we  have  said,  to  the  Leisure  Hour,  of  London,  Eng- 
land, and  to  magazines  in  America.  He  gave  special  study  to  the 
metrical  versions  of  the  Psalms  in  English,  and  read  a  prelim- 
inary paper  on  that  subject  to  a  literary  circle  in  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  a  paper  which  was  highly  commended.  He 
intended  to  enlarge  and  perfect  it,  but  his  illness  prevented  the 
completion.  It  was  left  in  manuscript  a  fragment,  and  is  now 
published  in  this  fragmentary  form,  and  may  perhaps  suggest 
that  the  theme  is  worthy  of  a  fuller  and  more  complete  treatment 
by  some  other  competent  pen. 

He  became  also  an  intelligent  student  of  Old  English  verse 
while  engaged  in  a  general  survey  of  the  entire  field  of  classic 
English  literature.  His  investigations  were  conducted  in  the 
scientific  spirit  aiming  to  know  the  local  conditions  and  sur- 
roundings under  which  an  author  wrote.  In  the  case  of  some 
American  writers,  he  personally  visited  their  former  haunts  and 
homes,  and  the  places  rendered  historic  by  their  works,  that  he 
might  more  fully  enter  into  the  spirit  of  their  production  and 
more  accurately  estimate  their  value.  The  nature  of  these  studies 
may  be  seen  in  the  article  entitled  "In  the  Bret  Harte  Country," 
which  fairly  indicates  the  thorough  research  revealed  in  a  score 
of  his  unpublished  essays. 

With  the  modesty  of  a  true  scholar,  he  never  made  a  display 
of  his  knowledge,  hence  in  social  intercourse  few  suspected  the 
extent  of  his  reading.  He  was  credited  as  having  a  grace  of 
manner  and  a  quiet  ease  in  conversation  that  caused  him  to  be 
warmly  welcomed  in  every  social  circle  that  he  entered.  He  had 
a  sense  of  humor  and  a  skill  in  narrative  and  story-telling  that 
is  fairly  illustrated  by  his  sketch  of  "Hiram  Porter  McGinniss," 
a  sketch  selected  almost  at  random  from  scores  of  similar  stories 
found  among  his  manuscripts. 

In  study  and  in  recreation  he  had  an  enthusiasm  which  was 
shown  by  the  scholarly  zeal  with  which  he  aided  for  a  time  in  the 
slow  and  plodding  work  of  reconstructing  and  cataloguing  the 
historical  documents  and  books  in  the  library  of  the  American 
Sunday-school  Union.  He  was  quick  to  perceive  the  merit  of 
some  old  work  that  might  throw  light  on  the  origin  and  early 
history  of  education  and  of  Bible  schools.  He  was  keen  to  discern 
the  value  of  some  antique  book  which  illustrated  Old  English  or 
some  version  of  the  Psalms.  His  critical  candor  and  balance  of 
mind  are  revealed  in  the  numerous  essays  which  he  left,  one  of 

[19] 


which  on  Wordsworth  is  reproduced  in  the  selection  of  his  literary 
works,  and  also  may  be  seen  in  his  paper  on  the  "Tannhauser 
Legends." 

His  genial  social  nature  which  endeared  him  to  a  wide  circle 
of  acquaintances  has  been  already  indicated.  A  leading  educator 
in  the  West  says,  "I  have  repeatedly  heard  expressions  of  admira- 
tion and  affection,  touching  the  thoughtfulness,  gentleness,  and 
manliness  of  Alfred."  A  business  man  in  the  same  section  wrote, 
"We  fully  recognized  his  splendid  character,  and  his  charming 
and  lovable  personality."  Still  another,  from  Washington,  D.  C., 
spoke  of  the  same  characteristics,  "a  lovable  personality,  which 
made  everyone  his  friend."  An  intelligent  observer  from  the 
Northwest  alluded  to  his  suffering  which  was  hidden  in  his 
system  and  adds,  "We  marvel  to  remember  the  interest  that  he 
manifested  in  passing  scenes,  and  that  he  was  so  thoughtful  of 
the  comfort  of  others."  One  of  his  friends  speaks  of  his  "good 
nature  and  fund  of  quiet  humor;  attributes  not  often  found  to 
such  an  extent  in  any  one  person." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Clay  Trumbull,  who  passed  through  a 
similar  trial  to  that  of  his  father,  and  who  was,  when  he  wrote, 
looking  through  the  thin  veil  into  the  life  beyond,  among  other 
things,  says  to  his  father:  "God  seems  to  have  loved  and  hon- 
ored your  dear  boy,  and  to  have  counted  him  fit  for  activity  and 
usefulness  in  a  larger  and  more  important  sphere  than  he  could 
have  had  'here.  He  may  even  now  be  evangelizing  a  planet,  or  be 
doing  a  work  of  ministry  there  far  beyond  his  utmost  possibilities 
in  the  flesh." 


[20] 


Literary  Works  of 
ALFRED  BELDEN  RICE,  A.B.,  A.M 

(University  of  Pennsylvania) 

SELECTED  FROM   HIS  PUBLISHED  AND 
UNPUBLISHED  WRITINGS 

Edited  by 
EDWIN  WILBUR  RICE,  D.D.,  LIT.  D. 


Metrical  Versions  of  the  Psalms  in  English 

(A  Fragment) 

By  ALFRED  BELDEN  RICE,  A.B.,  A.M. 

THAT  the  English  Bible  influenced  our  literature  more  than 
any  other  one  book,  has  long  since  become  a  commonplace 
statement.  It  is  not  so  generally  recognized,  although 
equally  true,  that  the  Book  of  Psalms  is  one  of  the  chief  channels 
through  which  that  influence  entered.  Of  the  sixty-six  sacred 
books,  none  influenced  English  poetry,  if  not  English  literature 
in  general,  so  much  as  the  Psalms.  Aside  from  their  devotional 
character,  the  poetry  of  the  Psalms  has  appealed  to  men  of  all 
ages.  This  collection  of  lyrics  conforms  not  only  with  the  theo- 
retical demands  of  permanent  literature,  in  presenting  the 
universal  emotions  of  the  human  heart;  it  has  proved  itself 
permanent  by  the  test  of  time,  in  that  it  has  endured  for 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  years. 

The  Psalms  have  always  gone  hand  in  hand  with  periods  of 
religious  revival  and  have  perhaps  been  more  accessible  to  the 
people  than  any  other  parts  of  the  Bible.  In  1229,  when  the 
Council  of  Toulouse  interdicted  the  Bible  to  the  laity,  it  made 
the  Psalter  an  exception.  In  France,  the  Psalms,  in  the  form  of 
Marot's  metrical  translation,  constituted  a  powerful  exponent  of 
the  Reformation.  In  the  Crusades,  it  is  reported  that  the  pil- 
grims beguiled  themselves  on  the  march  by  singing  certain 
Psalms  and  hymns.  And  in  our  own  day  we  show  our  particular 
attraction  to  the  Psalms  by  publishing  them  separately  in  our 
prayer-books,  hymnals,  and  Testaments. 

The  influence  which  the  Psalms  have  exerted  on  our  litera- 
ture may  be  conveniently  divided  into: 

1.  An  indirect  influence  displaying  itself  in  works  the  spirit 
or  verbal  expressions  of  which  are  traceable  to  the  Psalms — 
works  in  which,  to  use  a  musical  illustration,  overtones  vibrate 
to  the  easily  discovered  fundamentals  of  the  Psalms.    Byron  in 
his  "Hebrew  Melodies"  and  Milton  throughout  his  works  are 
good  examples  of  influence  of  this  kind. 

2.  Direct  influence  displayed  in  verbal  or  other  references  to 
or  quotations  from  the  Psalms.    To  formulate  a  list  of  English 
authors  who  show  such  contact  would  be  practically  the  same  as 
making  a  catalogue  of  the  majority  of  the  men  of  letters. 

3.  Direct  influence   displayed   in   metrical    translations  of 
paraphrases  of  the  Psalms.   It  is  this  influence  which  I  shall  now 

[23] 


endeavor  briefly  to  consider.  If  at  times  I  shall  seem  to  take  the 
reader  somewhat  afar  from  English  poetry  narrowly  defined,  let 
him  consider  the  nature  of  the  material  to  be  treated.  The 
multitude  of  men  who  have  tried  their  hands  at  metrical  versions 
of  the  Psalms  is  indeed  a  heterogeneous  company.  In  it  we  shall 
find  the  great  poet  in  his  youth  "dinging  upon  David"  as  the 
musician  first  drums  five-finger  exercises  upon  his  piano.  There 
also  is  the  devout  man  versifying  the  Psalms  as  an  outlet  for  his 
religious  emotions,  and  the  scoundrel  imposing  the  task  upon 
himself  as  a  penance;  the  philosopher  who  translates  as  a  pleasant 
pastime,  and  the  fool  who  does  so  because  he  knows  no  better. 
Besides  these,  we  shall  find  among  the  translators  of  the  Psalms 
the  parson,  the  courtier,  the  linguist,  the  hymnist,  the  monarch, 
the  adventurer,  the  lawyer,  the  school  teacher,  the  musician,  the 
architect,  the  dramatist,  the  physician,  the  poet  laureate,  the 
type  founder,  and  in  fact  almost  every  other  professional  man 
to  say  nothing  of  many  a  gentlewoman  who  did  the  Psalms 
between  the  stitches  of  her  embroidery.  At  times  we  shall  feel 
that  the  true  poet  figures  far  too  little  in  the  list,  for  the  number 
of  the  mechanical  and  uninspired  versions  of  the  Psalms  perpe- 
trated in  English  seem  almost  infinite.*  But  that  some  of  the 
versions  or  parts  of  them  contain  much  true  poetry  cannot  be 
denied,  as  I  shall  try  to  show  later. 

Again,  we  shall  find  that  the  method  of  treatment  has  dif- 
fered widely  with  the  various  poets.  Some  have  translated  most 
literally,  others  most  freely.  Many  have  made  evangelical  ex- 
pansions from  the  Psalms,  and  some  have  even  treated  the 
Hebrew  merely  as  a  storehouse  for  texts  of  their  own  produc- 
tions. 

As  for  metres  we  shall  find  almost  all  forms  known  to  our 
language,  and  some  that  are  not  known  elsewhere.  There  are 
hexameters,  heroics,  blank  verse,  ballad  measures,  odd  forms, 
Asclepiads,  Elegiacs,  scores  of  hymn  metres,  complicated  lyric 
forms,  etc. 

Before  taking  up  the  actual  material  in  hand,  let  me  add 
just  one  more  word.  It  is  this.  I  do  not  think  we  shall  be  quite 
fair  towards  this  great  number  of  translators  of  the  Psalms  if  we 
do  not  keep  before  us  the  obvious  and  yet  easily  forgotten  limita- 
tions under  which  the  translators  were  compelled  to  work.  The 
first  limitation  is  the  great  familiarity  which  every  cultured  man 
has  with  the  Authorized  Version  of  the  Psalms.  The  translator 
of  Virgil  is  to  some  extent  limited  in  the  same  way.  But  the 
translator  of  the  Psalms  much  more  so.  For  while  many  were 
and  are  still  familiar  with  the  story  of  ^neid,  all  men  of  culture, 


*As  old  Fuller  slyly  said  of  the  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  version,  most  of  the  translators  seem  to 
have  drunk  more  deeply  of  Jordan  than  of  Helicon.  And  Connley  says  concerning  them:  "They  are 
so  far  from  doing  justice  to  David  that  methinks  they  revile  him  worse  than  Shimei." 

[24] 


whatever  their  faith,  are  familiar  with  not  only  the  contents  but 
commonly  with  the  verbal  expressions  of  the  Psalms,  and  any 
metrical  rendering  changing  these  verbal  expressions  uncon- 
sciously strains  our  ears  and  jars  a  memory.  Furthermore,  most 
of  the  metrical  versions  of  the  Psalms  were  written  to  be  sung 
and  the  metrical  demands  of  the  music  hampered  the  poet's 
freedom.  And  lastly,  the  mechanical  characteristics  or  form  of 
Hebrew  poetry  is  totally  different  from  the  English  metrical 
system  of  versification,  and  is  therefore  incapable  of  being  repro- 
duced in  English. 

With  regard  to  the  Hebrew  Psalms,  the  questions  concern- 
ing their  authorship,  date,  or  dates  of  composition,  and  musical 
accompaniment  are  interesting,  but  are  foreign  to  our  present 
purpose.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  Psalms  constitute  one  of  the 
great  anthologies  of  the  world  expressing  the  intense  emotional 
life  of  the  people  of  Israel.  The  book  is  almost  entirely  lyric  in 
character,  for  the  element  of  drama  remained  in  an  undeveloped 
state  throughout  the  history  of  the  Hebrews.  The  subjective 
feelings  of  joy,  hope,  sorrow,  triumph,  etc.,  make  up  the  themes 
of  the  book.  Doubtless  we  have  lost  many  secular  lyrics  of  the 
Hebrews.  Traces  of  such  compositions  have  remained  in  the 
"Song  of  the  Well"  in  Numbers  and  in  David's  lament  over 
Saul  and  Jonathan  (2  Sam.:  i).  But  the  Psalms  are  almost 
wholly  devotional.  Through  external  nature  and  the  experiences 
of  the  human  heart,  the  Psalmist  always  sees  his  God. 

But  to  begin  with  our  material.  As  for  the  Anglo-Saxon  and 
Middle  English  versions,  I  have  not  as  yet  made  any  systematic 
search  for  them.  I  shall  therefore  merely  give  titles  of  those  that 
have  casually  come  to  my  attention,  realizing  that  the  list  is  by 
no  means  complete.* 

Other  metrical  versions  that  I  have  found  mentioned  before 
the  Reformation  are  Seven  Penitential  Psalms  (1414)  by  T. 
Brampton  and  printed  by  the  Percy  Society,  a  translation  of 
St.  Gerome's  Gallican  Psalter  into  English  (mentioned  by  Hol- 
land: Psalmists  of  Britain,  1842),  date  circa  Hen.  II  or  Rich.  I. 

The  Reformation  gave  an  impetus  to  the  production  of 
metrical  Psalms.  Its  leaders,  Luther  and  Justus  Jonas  in  Ger- 
many, and  Marot,  Calvin,  and  Beza  in  France,  wrote  versions 
which  were  at  once  inspirations  for  Becon,1  Wisdome,  and 
Coverdale.  The  Psalms  by  the  first  two  men  were  incorporated 

"Later  Mr.  Rice  examined  metrical  versions  in  Anglo-Saxon  and  Middle  English.  Thus  besides 
the  Northumberland  Psalter,  and  a  possible  version  by  Richard  Rolle.  he  notes  a  Kentish  Psalter,  a 
version  by  Alfred  not  finished,  a  Latin  Psalter  with  interlinear  Anglo-Saxon  gloss,  a  translation  into 
Middle  English  which  some  place  in  the  Ninth  Century,  an  Anglo-Saxon  version  edited  by  Thorpe 
which  some  ascribe  to  Aldhelm,  but  Thorpe  assigns  it  to  a  later  date,  a  version  by  Aldhelm,  circvyot) — 
according  to  Bede.  Bruce's  Paris  Psalter,  and  several  others  as  his  notes  and  subsequent  criticisms 
fully  prove.— E.  W.  R. 

Thomas  Becon  (or  Beacon),  1510-1570,  wrote  "many  works,  prayers,  and  pieces."  Sometimes 
under  the  assumed  name  of  "Theodore  Basil."  His  works  were  edited  by  John  Daye,  1563,  and  by 
Parker  Society  Camb.,  1843-1844.— E.  W.  R. 

tail 


into  the  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  version  and  are  perhaps  its 
oldest  portions.  Fifteen  "Goostly  Psalms"  (1539)  by  Miles 
Coverdale,  have,  I  believe,  come  down  to  us  and  have  been 
traced  to  German  sources  (Luther).  In  general  it  is  said  that 
our  English  Psalm  singing  sprang  from  the  intercourse  of  the 
Gospellers  with  Luther  and  Melancthon,  and  from  familiarity 
with  their  writings.2  Metrical  versions  of  the  Psalms  were  set 
to  ballad  tunes3  and  afterward  to  special  music  by  the  leaders  of 
the  Reformation.  They  were  then  regarded  as  close  representa- 
tives of  the  Hebrew  form  of  poetry,  much  less  being  known 
about  Hebrew  poetry  then  than  now.  Under  Edward  VI,  met- 
rical Psalms  flourished.  The  German  influence  as  to  metres 
ceased,  and  the  ballad  measure  of  Chevy  Chase  was  substituted. 
In  1549,  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt  published  Seven  Penitential  Psalms 
in  metre  after  the  model  of  Alamini.  In  the  same  year,  Robert 
Crowley,  Vicar  of  St.  Giles,  published  the  whole  Psalter  set  to 
harmonized  chants.  But  these  attempts,  together  with  Parker's 
(if  his  version  belongs  here),  were  soon  eclipsed. 

I  come  now  to  the  Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  or  Old  Version, 
which,  from  a  historical  standpoint,  is  the  most  important  of  all 
old  metrical  translations  to  be  considered.  Thos.  Sternhold  was 
Groom  of  the  Robes  to  Henry  VIII  and  Edward  VI.  The  date  of 
his  birth  is  uncertain — probably  about  1500.  He  died  in  1549. 
At  court  he  seems  to  have  been  noted  for  poetical  propensities 
and  great  piety.  Feeling  that  the  songs  of  the  time  were  shock- 
ingly profane,  he  undertook  a  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms 
which  he  hoped  might  become  popular  at  court.  He  published  a 
small  volume  apparently  in  the  year  of  his  death,  1549.  The 
title  was:  "Certayne  Psalms  chose  out  of  the  Psalter  of  David 
and  drawn  into  Englishe  Metre  by  Thomas  Sternhold,  grome  of 
ye  Kynges  Maiesties  Robes.  Printed  by  Edwayr  Whitchurch." 
This  volume  which  is  now  in  the  British  Museum  contained  only 
nineteen  Psalms,  but  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1549  another 
volume  apparently  put  forth  by  John  Hopkins  adds  eighteen 
new  Psalms  by  Sternhold  as  well  as  seven  by  Hopkins.  These 
seven,  however,  are  carefully  set  apart  from  Sternhold's  Psalms, 
and  Hopkins  further  cautions  the  reader  against  supposing  his 
work  the  product  of  Sternhold.  In  a  Psalter  published  by  John 
Daye  in  1561,  three  additional  Psalms  by  Sternhold  appear, 
making  the  complete  number  done  by  him  forty.  These  forty 
appear  in  the  editions  of  1562,  1563,  and  all  subsequent  editions. 
Hopkins,  it  has  already  been  said,  contributed  seven  to  an 
edition  of  1549,  but  in  1562  there  appeared  "The  Whole  Book  of 
Psalms,  collected  into  English  Metre  by  T.  Sternhold,  J.  Hopkins 

*It  is  now  held  that  this,  as  everything  German,  has  been  greatly  exaggerated. — E.  W.  R. 

*Old  Psalm  books  contain  the  various  metrical  Psalms  with  the  first  lines  of  some  secular  ballad 
prefixed,  to  indicate  the  tune,  just  as  if  we  should  write  the  first  lines  of  say  "Yankee  Doodle"  above 
our  Psalms  today.— See  Abbey  Relig.  Thought  in  Old  English  Verse. 

[26] 


and  Others,  conferred  with  the  Ebreu,  with  apt  Notes  to  sing 
them  withal."  The  "others"  of  the  title  may  be  identified  to 
some  extent  by  the  initials  printed  in  the  successive  editions. 
W.  K.  stands  for  William  Keith,  a  Scotchman  who  shared  exile 
with  Knox  in  1555;  W.  W.  for  Wm.  Whittingham,  a  brother-in- 
law  of  Calvin;  1.  N.  for  Thos.  Norton;  M.  for  John  Markand; 
H.  W.  for  Henry  Wisdome;  T.  C.  for  an  unknown  person,  unless 
John  Craig  be  meant. 

This,  in  brief,  was  the  origin  of  the  so-called  Sternhold  and 
Hopkins  version  of  the  Psalms.  Many  changes  in  text  were  made 
in  the  countless  editions  which  followed,  but  a  discussion  of  these 
here  would  extend  the  subject  beyond  the  limits  of  my  present 
paper,  and  I  shall  merely  call  attention  to  some  of  the  character- 
istics of  the  version  together  with  the  influence  it  exerted  from 
an  historical  standpoint.  The  purpose  of  the  work  was,  according 
to  old  Fuller,  to  "make  the  Psalms  portable  in  man's  memories, 
verses  being  twice  as  light  as  the  same  bulk  of  prose."  He  adds 
that  the  poets  seem  to  have  "drunk  more  deeply  of  Jordan  than 
of  Helicon  during  their  labors."  Sternhold  dedicated  his  edition 
to  Edward  VI,  and  in  the  dedication  thanks  God  for  giving  them 
a  king  "that  forbiddeth  not  layman  to  gather  and  lease  (i.e., 
glean)  in  the  lordes  harvest,"  "and  he  trusts  as  his  grace  taketh 
pleasure  to  hear  them  song  sometimes,  so  he  wyll  also  delight  to 
see  and  read  them  and  command  them  to  be  song  by  others." 

Sternhold  evidently  liked  his  own  composition,  for  we  hear 
that  he  sung  his  Psalms  to  his  organ  for  his  goodly  solace.  Stern- 
hold  used  one  metre  in  his  Psalms  (except  Ps.  120) — viz.,  the 
ballad  metre  of  Chevy  Chase.  And  this  selection  of  metre  was 
far  more  important  than  the  Psalms  that  he  set  to  it;  for  either 
in  this  form  (with  two  rhymes)  or  that  of  Hopkins  (with  four 
rhymes)  it  became  the  prevailing  metre  (C.  M.)  of  the  old  and 
new  versions  of  England  and  Scotland  and  of  innumerable 
metrical  Psalms  and  hymns.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  Stern- 
hold  and  Hopkins  version  was  very  popular.  It  had  a  larger 
circulation  than  any  other  work  in  the  language  except  the 
authorized  version  of  the  Bible  and  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 
It  was  regarded  as  little  less  than  inspired,  and  even  its  old-fash- 
ioned grammar  and  faulty  versification  were  considered  sacred. 
After  its  adoption  under  Elizabeth,  it  continued  to  be  used  by 
the  Church  of  England  for  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  years, 
when  it  was  superseded  by  the  new  version  of  Tate  and  Brady. 
The  Non-conformists  used  it  down  to  the  time  of  Watts.  Over 
three  hundred  editions  are  said  to  have  been  printed.  Having 
read  only  quoted  lines  of  the  work  and  not  the  book  as  a  whole,  I 
am  hardly  prepared  to  pass  judgment  on  its  merits  or  defects. 
Tentatively,  however,  I  will  say  that  it  seems  to  be  justly  cen- 
sured as  a  rough  and  uncouth  translation  although  the  language 

[27] 


used  is  at  times  vigorous  and  forceful.  Tate  and  Brady's  version 
is  now  generally  conceded  to  have  been  an  improvement  on 
Sternhold  and  Hopkins's.  The  only  Psalm  from  the  latter  still 
current  is  the  Twenty-third  (My  Shepherd  is  the  Living  Lord). 

For  the  sake  of  following  out  the  version  of  Sternhold  and 
Hopkins  from  its  first  draft  in  1549  to  its  completion  in  1562,  I 
have  disregarded  the  chronology.  During  the  reign  of  Mary, 
Psalm  singing  ceased  in  England  but  was  carried  on  by  the  exiles. 
Marot's  version  of  the  Psalms  was  sung  in  Geneva,  and  there  the 
English  and  Scotch  versifiers  heard  them.  Matthew  Parker's 
version  is  traceable  to  this  influence.  It  was  printed  by  John 
Daye,  without  date,  but  that  it  was  written  early  we  know  from 
a  sentence  in  Parker's  diary  under  the  year  1557:  "Absolvi 
Psalterium  versum  metrice  lingus  vulgari."  Parker  used  various 
metres:  C.  M.,  L.  M.,  8's,  and  one  or  two  curious  measures.  His 
authorship  of  the  work  has  been  doubted,  but  both  the  external 
evidence  and  the  internal  evidence  of  Ps.  XIX  written  to  the 
acrostic  "Mattheus  Parkerus"  seem  to  refute  the  supposition  of 
doubt,  so  that  as  with  Home,  if  Parker  did  not  write  it  at  least 
some  one  of  the  same  name  did.  The  version  is  said  to  be  a  good 
translation,  but  unfortunately  no  copy  is  known  outside  of  the 
Library  of  Corpus  Christi  College.  A  reprint  is  greatly  needed. 

Upon  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  Psalm  singing  was  revived 
and  became  very  popular.  Elizabeth  herself  encouraged  it,  and 
at  one  service  when  the  Psalms  were  sung  after  the  Bishop's 
sermon  at  St.  Paul's  Cross,  six  thousand  people  were  present.  The 
popularity  of  the  version  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  has  already 
been  mentioned.  But  other  versifications  appeared.  Sir  Philip 
Sidney,  in  collaboration  with  his  sister,  the  Countess  of  Pem- 
broke, made  a  translation  of  some,  if  not  of  all,  of  the  Psalms. 
Julian  says  that  Sidney  translated  Ps.  1-43  and  that  his  sister 
completed  the  version.  Coles,  however,  affirms  that  the  whole 
version  extended  only  to  the  43d  Psalm.  As  none  of  Sidney's 
writings  were  published  in  his  lifetime,  we  do  not  know  the  date 
of  composition  of  his  Psalms.  They  were  first  printed  in  London 
in  1823.  Ruskin  edited  them  under  the  title  of  "Rock  Honey- 
comb," in  the  second  volume  of  his  "Bibliotheca  Pastorum." 
They  are  written  in  the  capricious  measures  of  the  lighter  Eliz- 
abethan style  and  were  probably  not  intended  for  congregational 
singing.  Julian  mentions  Psalms  84,  92  and  96  as  the  best. 

Two  other  works  of  this  period  are  a  version,  apparently 
complete,  by  Francis  and  Christopher  Davison  and  others  (ms. 
Harl,  in  British  Museum)  and  seven  penitential  Psalms  by 
Edmund  Spenser,  unfortunately  lost.  The  Psalms  of  William 
Hunnis,  though  still  preserved,  are  only  accessible  at  the  British 
Museum,  and  certain  other  English  libraries.  (R.  Hannihurst — 
4  Psalms  in  Hexameters.)  Other  writers  of  the  period  are  John 

[28] 


Craig,  the  Scotchman,  Henry  Lok,  Robert  Pont,  Nicholas 
Breton,  William  Whittingham,  William  Kethe,  Henry  Wisdome, 
Thomas  Norton,  etc.  Some  of  these  have  already  been  mentioned 
in  connection  with  their  contribution  to  the  old  version.  The 
I4th  Psalm  versified  by  Queen  Elizabeth  has  been  preserved,  but 
so  far  as  I  know  it  is  in  MS.  form  only.  Selected  Psalms  were 
published  by  John  Donne  in  1633,  by  Phineas  Fletcher  (1633), 
and  by  George  Herbert  (1632).  Bishop  Hall  translated  Psalms 
i-io  in  1607  and  Lord  Bacon  did  a  few  in  1625.  (Fuller's  Worth- 
ies Libraries.)  R.  Crashaw  brought  out  some  in  1648.  Between 
1603-1620,  Henry  Dod  published  a  complete  version  which 
according  to  all  accounts  must  have  been  utterly  worthless. 
Wither  says  that  it  was  burned  by  the  hangman.  The  latter 
(I  mean  George  Wither,  not  the  hangman)  made  a  complete 
metrical  version  of  the  Psalms  between  1619-1632.  Wither  was 
a  sagacious  fellow  and  so  anticipated  our  own  times  as  to  try  to 
get  a  monopoly  on  metrical  Psalm  making.  Like  the  monopolist 
of  today,  he  secured  a  special  privilege  from  the  government  by 
which  the  king  ordered  his  Psalms  to  be  bound  with  the  Bible 
and  every  Bible  not  having  them  to  be  seized.  But  some  of  the 
details  of  the  monopoly  were  hard  to  enforce  and  the  "corner" 
in  Psalms  broke.  The  metres  of  Wither  were  more  regular  than 
Sidney's  and  the  version  was  intended  to  be  sung;  for  tunes  were 
written  by  Orlando  Gibbons. 

In  1636,  George  Sandys  published  a  complete  version  of  the 
Psalms  for  which  Henry  Lawes  supplies  the  music.  The  metres 
used  are  the  L.  M.  couplets,  7's,  and  other  metres.  Dryden  and 
James  Montgomery  thought  very  highly  of  this  version.  Henry 
Lawes,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  closely  associated  with  Milton, 
having  written  the  music  to  the  Comus,  and  acted  the  part  of 
Thyrsis  in  the  same.  Sandys  also  published  paraphrases  of  other 
parts  of  the  Bible,  including  the  Book  of  Job.  Dryden  ranked 
him  as  "the  best  versifier  of  the  former  age."  Montgomery 
praises  his  version  extravagantly  as  "incomparably  the  most 
poetic  in  the  language." 

Coming  now  to  the  Puritan  influence  we  find  a  series  of  very 
literal  translations.  One  of  the  first  of  these  was  the  New  Eng- 
land Psalter,  commonly  known  as  the  Bay  Psalm  Book  or  Psal- 
ter, published  in  1640  at  Cambridge,  New  England. 

Another  New  England  Psalter  was  published  in  1650,  being 
in  the  nature  of  a  revision  of  the  Rouse  version  made  by  President 
Dunster  of  Harvard  College,  Rich,  Lyon,  and  thirty  others. 
Rouse's  version  was  itself  a  revision  of  the  old  version  of  Stern- 
hold  and  Hopkins.  It  was  published  in  1641.  Scotland  had  for 
the  most  part  used  the  old  version  although  various  churches  had 
different  renderings  by  other  authors.  The  first  complete  version 
was  printed  at  Edinburgh  in  1564  and  remained  in  use  until  the 

[29] 


middle  of  the  next  century.  This  was  the  version  of  Knox, 
Walsh,  Melville,  and  others.  In  1643  the  Westminster  Assembly 
undertook  the  selection  of  a  new  version,  and,  after  much  con- 
sideration, adopted  the  version  of  Francis  Rous  (Rouse)  which 
had  been  published  in  1641.  Some  substitutions,  however,  were 
made  by  the  Assembly  and  certain  passages  from  the  old  Scotch 
version  and  from  other  sources  were  inserted  to  take  the  place  of 
rejected  lines  of  Rous's  version.  The  resulting  edition  was  pub- 
lished in  1650  and  this  version  has  continued  to  the  present  time, 
when  it  is  sung  in  the  regular  services  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Churches,  and  occasionally  in  other  churches  as  well.  Sir  Walter 
Scott  said  of  it:  "Its  expression,  though  homely,  is  plain,  forcible, 
and  intelligible,  and  very  often  possesses  a  rude  sort  of  majesty 
which  would  be  ill  exchanged  by  more  elegance."  Many  of  our 
good  old  grandmothers  still  retain  the  version  word  by  word  in 
their  minds.  They  learned  it,  it  is  said,  on  their  old  colonial 
stair-cases,  the  method  being  to  descend  a  step  for  every  verse 
committed.  The  House  of  Commons  took  kindly  to  Rouse's 
version  and  endeavored  to  make  it  the  official  version  of  England 
as  well  as  of  Scotland.  But  the  House  of  Lords  were  opposed  to 
the  Commons  and  favored  a  version  by  William  Barton,  the 
various  editions  of  whose  work  appeared  in  1644,  1645  and  1646. 
The  opposition  between  the  houses  resulted  in  the  exclusion  of 
both  versions  from  official  acceptance. 

The  next  important  name  which  we  have  to  consider  is  that 
of  John  Milton  He  versified  twenty  of  the  Psalms  in  all,  two 
of  which  (114  and  136)  he  did  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  The  H4th 
Psalm  he  also  translated  into  Greek.  The  remaining  eighteen  he 
translated  in  the  years  1648  and  1653.  With  the  exception  of  the 
H4th,  the  translations  are  quite  literal,  and  in  nine  of  his  Psalms 
he  even  goes  so  far  as  to  italicise  all  words  which  are  not  transla- 
tions of  the  original  Hebrew — a  circumstance  which  I  think  well 
illustrates  the  spirit  of  all  of  the  Puritan  versifiers  of  the  Psalms. 
Milton  used  quite  a  large  variety  of  metres  for  the  small  bulk  of 
his  work.  We  find,  for  example,  decasyllabic  rhymed  couplets, 
terza  rima,  split  septinarii,  and  even  ode  forms,  and  the  like. 

In  1651  Bishop  King  of  Chichester  made  a  complete  trans- 
lation of  the  Psalms,  and  Thomas,  Lord  Fairfax,  made  another 
which  seems  to  have  been  too  poor  to  publish.  The  latter  is 
mentioned  in  the  Preface  to  Cotton's  edition  of  the  Bible. 

Following  the  Puritan  period  came  an  inevitable  reaction. 
Richard  Baxter  blew  the  reveille  of  the  new  band  of  versifiers 
when  he  proclaimed  "The  ear  alloweth  greater  melody  than 
strict  versions  will  allow."  In  1692  he  published  his  version  and 
the  fashion  of  the  moment  demanded  a  verse  of  less  variety  than 
heretofore.  Baxter  was  equal  to  the  problem,  however,  and 
devised  a  scheme  of  bracketing  words  so  that  L.  M.  might  be 

[30] 


converted  into  C.  M.,  or  C.  M.  into  S.  M.,  for  ignorant  congre- 
gations. I  have  not  seen  Baxter's  version,  but  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  such  a  composition  must  have  been  more  ingenious 
than  poetic.  Other  versions  of  the  period  are  S.  Woodford  (1667), 
Miles  Smyth  (1668),  Luke  Milbourne  (1698),  and  Sir  John  Den- 
han's,  not  published  until  1715.  In  1691-2,  John  Patrick  pub- 
lished a  version  which  historically  demands  an  added  word.  He 
did  not  translate  the  Psalms  literally  but  paraphrased  them  by 
the  method  of  evangelical  interpretation.  Parker  had  followed 
this  method  to  some  extent,  but  Watts  following  Parker  and 
Patrick  carried  the  method  out  to  its  extreme  though  logical 
conclusion.  How  that  method  has  come  into  modern  hymnody 
will  be  mentioned  in  considering  Watts. 

I  have  discovered  a  passing  reference  to  another  version 
which  may  belong  here,  or  may  not.  Its  date  of  composition  and 
character  I  am  unable  to  determine.  I  refer  to  the  version  of  Dr. 
Gibb's  (18  Psalms).  It  was  probably  not  literal,  for  Dean  Swift 
wrote  on  a  leaf  of  a  copy  the  following:  "I  warn  the  readers  that 
this  is  a  lie,  both  here  and  all  over  the  book;  for  these  are  not  the 
Psalms  of  David,  but  of  Dr.  Gibb." 

I  come  now  to  the  version  of  Tate  and  Brady.  The  earliest 
MS.  to  be  noted  is  a  page  and  a  half  in  the  Bodleian  Library, 
undated.  Following  this  we  have  "The  first  XX  Psalms,  by 
N.  Brady  and  N.  Tate,"  also  in  the  Bodleian  Library  and  dated 
1695.  Finally  we  have  the  complete  version  of  1696  which  ob- 
tained the  sanction  of  the  sovereign  and  replaced  the  old  version 
— not,  however,  without  some  opposition,  for  Beveridge  bitterly 
opposed  it  (1710),  and  one  congregation  cast  it  out  of  their 
service.  Until  very  recent  times  Tate  and  Brady's  version  was 
printed  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  used  in  England  and 
America.  Julian  finds  three  different  kinds  of  translations  in  the 
work:  I.  Ornate  Psalms,  for  the  most  part  in  L.  M.  (Cf.  139). 

2.  Spiritless  productions  poor  in  language  and  generally  in  C.  M. 

3.  A  few  examples  of  sweet  and  simple  verse.    See  34,  42,  51,  84. 

It  is  apparently  impossible  to  divide  the  authorship  of  the 
version.  Some  have  thought  Dryden  had  a  hand  in  Tate's  por- 
tion. The  work  displays  to  a  degree  the  artificial  style  of  the 
period,  but,  as  Julian  remarks,  "  He  who  is  condemned  to  tread 
the  waste  of  metrical  Psalters  will  consider  it  an  advance  on  its 
predecessors."  Political  allusions  have  been  discovered  in  the 
1 8th  and  45th  Psalms.  Concerning  the  authors,  Nahum  Tate 
was  an  Irish  clergyman  of  considerable  note  in  literature.  In 
1692  he  succeeded  Shadwell  as  poet  laureate  and  he  was  asso- 
ciated with  Dryden  in  the  composition  of  Absalom  and  Achitho- 
phel,  the  second  part  being  generally  attributed  to  him.  Tate  is 
notorious  however  chiefly  because  of  his  version  of  "  King  Lear" 
which  long  held  the  stage  and  which  as  every  one  knows  turned 


Shakespeare's  play  into  a  reconciling  drama.  Tate's  coadjutor, 
Nicholas  Brady,  on  the  other  hand,  was  an  obscure  schoolmaster 
who  translated  Virgil  and  wrote  a  tragedy  and  numerous  sermons. 

Joseph  Addison  published  various  Psalms  in  the  Spectator 
from  time  to  time.  The  I9th  and  the  23d  are  still  popular. 

The  next  important  version  is  that  of  Isaac  Watts.  It  cannot 
be  called  a  translation,  but,  as  he  says  himself,  it  is  an  imitation 
of  the  Psalms  in  New  Testament  language.  Like  Parker  and 
Patrick,  he  applied  the  method  of  evangelical  interpretation  to 
the  Psalms,  but  carried  the  method  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
warrant  the  claim  which  he  makes  of  being  the  first  to  apply  the 
method  to  the  versification  of  the  Psalms.  Not  only  is  the  New 
Testament  thought  thus  thrust  upon  the  version,  but  many 
parts  of  the  Psalms  are  omitted  entirely  because  Watts  consid- 
ered many  of  them  not  adapted  to  present  singing.  Of  course  his 
version  was  made  primarily  to  be  sung.  Watts's  own  words 
quoted  from  his  introduction  will  doubtless  make  his  attitude 
somewhat  clearer: 

"I  come  therefore  to  the  third  thing  I  proposed;  and  that  is 
to  explain  my  own  design,  which  is  in  short  this:  namely,  to 
accommodate  the  book  of  Psalms  to  Christian  worship.  And  in 
order  to  do  this,  it  is  necessary  to  divest  David  and  Aspah,  etc., 
of  every  other  character  but  that  of  a  Psalmist  and  a  saint  and 
to  make  them  always  speak  the  common  sense  of  a  Christian." 

We  see  then  that  while  Watts's  version  is  not  complete  in 
the  sense  of  containing  versions  of  all  of  the  one  hundred  and 
fifty  Psalms,  yet  it  was  as  complete  as  Watts  thought  any  modern 
version  adapted  to  music  ought  to  be.  Furthermore,  that  Watts 
was  not  deterred  by  lethargy  is  proven  by  the  two  and  occas- 
ionally three  versions  he  prints  of  one  and  the  same  Psalm,  and 
by  the  six  immense  volumes  which  contain  his  complete  works. 
Many  of  the  versifications  of  the  Psalms  he  made  in  his  youth, 
but  the  complete  edition  was  published  in  1719.  As  already  stated 
we  cannot  call  the  version  a  translation,  and  indeed  it  is  a  very 
free  paraphrase,  for  not  only  are  portions  left  out,  but  much 
prefatory  matter  is  boldly  inserted,  having  no  foundation  on  the 
Psalms.  Watts  has  been  censured  for  his  turgid  epithets  and 
gaudy  ornament.  His  preposterous,  false  rhymes  might  well  have 
been  added  as  well  as  his  wrenched  order  of  words  which  after  all 
the  wrenching,  often  only  imperfectly  fit  the  metre.  (See  Ps.  24 
for  imperfect  rhymes;  Ps.  2  for  New  Testament  interpretation.) 
Watts  copied  extensively  from  other  versions  and  from  the  New 
Testament.  Especially  frequently  does  he  take  lines  from  Tate 
and  Brady,  Denham  and  Patrick.  The  influence  which  Watts's 
Psalms  and  Hymns  exerted  was  enormous.  Many  of  our  ortho- 
dox grandmothers  can  recite  them  verbatim  today,  and  more 
than  one  of  our  ancestors  had  to  commit  the  Psalms  and  Hymns 

[32] 


on  Sunday  afternoons.  Watts  was  even  used  as  a  mode  of  pun- 
ishment, and  no  doubt  he  served  well  in  that  capacity.  I  am  told 
that  one  of  the  typical  cases  was  to  take  a  little  boy  who  had 
been  naughty  on  the  Sabbath  day,  tie  him  to  a  bedpost  in  a 
dark  room,  and  make  him  commit  the  hymn  beginning  "Thine 
Earthly  Sabbaths,  Lord,  we  Love."  (Dodridge.)  I  suppose  the* 
little  girls  in  a  similar  position  were  given  the  lines  on  the  regula- 
tion of  the  tongue  for  reference  in  after  life.  I  might  add  how 
Watts  came  to  be  parsed,  how  he  was  buried  in  birthday  books 
and  so  on,  but  these  considerations  are  foreign  to  my  subject. 
The  one  thing  to  be  remembered  about  Watts  is  that  he  is 
responsible  for  the  method  of  evangelical  interpretation  of  the 
Psalms  employed  today  in  so  many  of  our  hymns.  (See  Psalm 
72,  second  part.)  The  Lenox  Library  contains  Franklin's  edition 
of  Watts's  hymns,  1741,  Joel  Barlow's  amendment  to  his  Psalms, 
1785,  and  Timothy  Dwight's  alterations  to  both,  in  1800. 

Following  Watts  we  have  a  series  of  versifications  which  I 
pass  with  merely  a  nominal  reference.  Sir  Richard  Blackmore, 
1721,  made  a  complete  translation,  dedicated  to  George  I.  It  is 
said  to  be  quite  literal.  Among  other  versions  are:  Anne  Steele 
(poems),  1760,  47  Psalms;  C.  Wesley,  1738,  1743,  ff.  See  poetical 
works  of  Wesley,  1868-72.  He  adopts  Watts's  system.  Christo- 
pher Smart  (1765)  inserted  so  much  New  Testament  material 
that  the  character  of  the  Psalms  is  lost.  James  Merrick 
(1765)  tried  to  follow  Lowth's  theories.  Home  quoted  it  with 
commendation.  "Immeasurable  verbiage,"  said  Montgomery. 
Further  versions  are  noted  in  the  list  at  the  end  of  the  essay. 

In  1883  Thos.  MacKellar,  the  type-founder  and  poet  of 
Philadelphia,  published  a  volume  entitled  "  Hymns  and  Metrical 
Psalms."  This  edition  contained  versions  of  Ps.  4,  5  (fragment), 
8,  10,  19,  46,  62,  86,  92,  93,  97,  100,  121,  145.  They  are  written 
in  various  hymn  metres. 

A  more  recent  version  of  the  Psalms  is  that  by  Dr.  Abraham 
Coles  published  in  1888.  Besides  the  metrical  Psalms  the  volume 
contains  "an  historical  sketch  of  the  French,  English,  and 
Scotch  Metrical  versions,"  but  the  sketch  is  very  fragmentary 
and  popular  in  treatment.  As  for  the  quality  of  his  versification, 
by  the  time  I  reached  the  consideration  of  this  version,  my  mind 
was  hardly  in  a  mood  favorable  for  the  appreciation  of  the 
Psalms  in  metrical  form,  and  I  therefore  postpone  further 
criticism. 

To  sum  up  then  I  have  found  either  by  titles  or  the  actual 
works  the  following  complete  and  partial  versions  of  the  Psalms. 
(See  list,  page  37.) 

Having  completed  a  very  rapid  review  of  various  complete 
and  partial  versions  of  the  Psalms  that  have  come  to  my  atten- 
tion, little  remains  to  be  added.  There  are,  however,  many  inter- 

l33l 


esting  questions  which  naturally  arise  after  such  a  consideration, 
and  of  one  of  these  I  would  like  to  speak  in  closing.  Among  the 
great  varieties  of  metres  noted  in  the  various  metrical  versions 
what  metre  (or  metres)  is  best  adapted  to  the  translation  of  the 
Psalms  into  English?  The  question  is  not  easily  answered  as  the 
very  multiplicity  of  metres  of  the  existing  versions  attest.  To 
answer  it  intelligently  we  must  recall  something  of  the  character 
of  Hebrew  versification. 

The  first  quality  apparent  in  Hebrew  poetry  is  its  greater 
similarity  to  prose  than  the  poetry  of  Western  languages.  The 
prose  of  certain  of  the  prophets  is  frequently  lost  in  a  flight  of 
poetry  and  as  frequently  drops  back  again  into  prose.  I  have 
mentioned  the  fact  that  the  epic  and  the  drama  play  but  little 
part  in  Hebrew.  Its  poetry  is  almost  entirely  lyric  and  gnomic. 
Hebrew  poetry  is  distinguished  from  its  prose  by  its  subject 
matter,  diction,  and  especially  by  its  rhythm.  The  onward  flow 
of  the  emotion  is  marked  off  by  lines  but  there  is  no  definite 
metre — at  least  none  has  been  discovered — corresponding  to  any 
of  our  well-defined  metres.  Rhyme  too  was  as  accidental  with 
the  Hebrews  as  with  the  classical  Latin  poets.  The  lines  were, 
however,  of  approximately  the  same  length,  the  general  average 
length  of  line  being  about  seven  or  eight  syllables.  The  his- 
torical and  didactic  Psalms  are  more  regular  in  this  respect  than 
those  of  an  emotional  nature.  When  a  line  exceeds  seven  to 
eight  syllables  it  is  generally  divided  by  a  caesura.  The  lines,  in 
groups  of  twos,  threes,  fours,  were  combined  into  verses  which 
commonly  marked  more  distinct  pauses  in  the  thought.  The 
predominant  verse  is  the  couplet  of  two  lines,  the  second  line 
generally  expanding  or  emphasising  the  thought  of  the  first. 
This  quality  is  of  course  commonly  known  as  parallelism  and 
may  be  of  various  kinds: 

1.  Synonymous  parallelism, 

How  shall  I  curse,  whom  God  hath  not  cursed? 

And  how  shall  I  defy,  whom  the  Lord  hath  not  defied? 

2.  Antithetic  parallelism, 

For  the  Lord  knoweth  the  way  of  the  righteous, 
But  the  way  of  the  wicked  shall  perish. 

3.  Synthetic  or  constructive  parallelism, 

Yet  I  have  set  my  king 
Upon  Zion  my  holy  hill. 

3.  Climactic  parallelism  or  ascending  rhythm, 

Give  unto  the  Lord,  O  ye  sons  of  the  mighty; 
Give  unto  the  Lord  glory  and  strength. 

[34] 


We  have  also: 

1.  Monostichs.    Generally   at  the   beginning  or   end   of  a 

poem, 

I  will  love  thee,  O  Lord,  my  strength. 

2.  Tristichs,  and  tetrastichs, 

His  mouth  was  smooth  as  butter, 
But  his  heart  was  war; 
His  words  were  softer  than  oil, 
Yet  were  they  drawn  swords. 

In  regard  to  strophe  or  stanza  structure  sometimes  the 
Hebrew  poets  seem  to  have  marked  off  a  group  of  verses  contain- 
ing similar  thought  by  a  refrain  but  again  the  divisions  are  quite 
irregular  and  even  a  strophe  distinguished  by  thought  character- 
istics obscure. 

Other  mechanical  devices  they  used,  however,  among  which 
are  the  acrostic  and  alphabet  schemes.  The  latter  was  used  in 
two  ways — either  each  verse  was  begun  with  a  different  letter, 
making  a  successive  series,  or  each  verse  of  a  strophe  commenced 
with  one  and  the  same  letter  and  each  verse  of  the  next  strophe 
began  with  the  next  letter.  See  Ps.  34,  37,  119,  and  145. 

Such  in  brief  are  some  of  the  mechanical  characteristics  of 
Hebrew  poetry.  How  are  they  to  be  transmitted  or  represented 
in  English?  Or  what  would  be  the  best  substitution  for  them? 
When  I  first  took  up  the  metrical  versions  of  the  Psalms  these 
questions  occurred  to  me  and  I  asked  two  men  whose  opinions  I 
thought  to  be  valuable,  the  following  questions: 

1.  Which  in  your  opinion  would  represent  more  nearly  the 
spirit  and  form  of  the  Hebrew  Psalms  in  English — a  prose,  or 
metrical  version? 

2.  What  English  metre  do  you  consider  best  adapted  for  a 
metrical  version? 

3.  Which  of  the  existing  versions  known   to  you  do  you 
prefer? 

To  these  questions  Dr.  William  R.  Harper,  President  of  the 
University  of  Chicago,  replied : 

"i.  Theoretically,  at  least,  I  should  think  that  a  metrical  rendering  of  the 
Psalms  would  come  nearer  to  the  true  representation  of  their  spirit  and  form  than 
a  prose  one;  but  practically,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  I  have  not  yet  seen  a  metrical 
rendering  that  was  at  all  satisfactory,  and  I  am  almost  in  despair  of  ever  finding  one 

"2.  As  to  the  metre  best  adapted  for  a  poetical  rendering,  I  have  no  special 
opinion.  Of  course  it  would  be  necessary  to  vary  the  metre  in  the  English  as  it 
varies  in  the  original.  The  same  metre  could  not  be  used  all  through  the  Psalter. 
I  should  say  that  in  general  a  stately  solemn  measure  would  be  more  appropriate 
than  any  light,  tripping  metre. 

[3Sl 


"3.  The  existing  metrical  versions  are  all  so  unsatisfactory  that  I  do  not 
care  to  express  any  preference  among  them.  It  would  be  merely  saying  which  is 
the  least  objectionable,  and  I  do  not  know  that  I  am  at  all  certain  about  this." 

Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke,  of  Princeton  University,  replied : 

"i.  A  prose  version  of  the  Psalms  seems  to  me  decidedly  preferable  to  one 
in  verse.  One  reason  is  because  we  do  not  yet  know  enough  about  Hebrew  versifica- 
tion to  be  able  even  approximately  to  imitate  it  in  English. 

"2.  In  the  case  of  a  metrical  version,  it  would  be  in  my  judgment  best  to 
vary  the  metre  in  the  different  Psalms.  For  instance,  the  1st  Psalm  seems  best 
adapted  to  four-stress  iambic  quatrains.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  HQth.  But 
the  72nd  and  the  iO4th  demand  a  more  fluent  and  flexible  metre. 

"3.  I  do  not  know  enough  about  the  subject  to  venture  an  intelligent 
answer." 

Prof.  Samuel  Hart,  of  Berkeley  Divinity  School,  Middle- 
town,  Conn.,  did  not  answer  the  questions  categorically.  He 
supposes  that  the  metrical  versions  of  the  Psalms  of  King 
James  VI  of  Scotland  and  I  of  England — "The  Psalmes  of  King 
David  translated  by  King  James," — appended  to  the  Scottish 
Prayer  Book  (known  as  Laud's)  of  1637  was  referred  to,  and 
mentions  a  remarkable  translation  of  the  Psalms  "frae  Hebrew 
into  Scottis"  by  Dr.  Waddell,  Edinburgh,  printed  as  prose  but 
is  largely  metrical  and  partly  rhymed.  In  respect  to  the  ques- 
tions he  says:  "I  think  that  the  spirit  and  form  of  the  Hebrew 
Psalter  are  best  represented  in  English  by  a  prose  translation, 
the  best  being  that  in  the  polychrome  (so-called)  Bible."  "Met- 
rical translations  must  be  largely  for  the  purpose  of  congrega- 
tional singing,  and  this  calls  for  the  ordinary  common  and  long 
metres,  as  a  rule,  but  I  know  of  no  metrical  version  which  is  so 
good  that  I  should  venture  to  say  that  I  preferred  it." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  I  have  not  investigated  the  subject 
deeply  enough  to  express  an  opinion  of  any  weight.  The  process 
must  consist  in  investigating  the  success  with  which  past  trans- 
lators have  used  various  metres  as  well  as  in  undertaking  the 
Hebrew  side  of  the  problem.  The  probability  of  a  misjudgment 
lurks  in  the  former  investigation,  since  good  poets  have  used 
ill  fitting  metres  with  better  success  than  poor  poets  have  em- 
ployed fitting  metres  and  vice  versa.  In  the  latter  side  of  the 
investigation  equal  difficulty  confronts  us  by  reason  of  the 
poverty  of  our  knowledge.  In  this  dilemma  an  apology  for  the 
very  fragmentary  form  of  my  paper  is  this,  that  had  I  waited 
until  I  had  wojrked  out  all  the  innumerable  details  of  my  subject, 
I  am  afraid  I  could  not  have  refrained  from  including  all  those 
details  in  my  report  in  which  I  am  sure  that  a  far  more  humble 
apology  would  be  required  of  me  than  is  due  even  now. 


[36] 


Appendix  to  Versions  of  Psalms  in  English  Verse 

This  list  of  versions  is  not  in  strict  chronological  order.  It 
is  compiled  from  a  card  catalogue  which  Alfred  Belden  Rice 
left,  and  from  notes  and  criticisms  of  versions,  some  of  which 
were  made  after  the  reading  of  his  essay.  Then  he  entered  upon 
the  study  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  Middle  English  versions,  as  his 
notes  and  subsequent  papers  abundantly  show;  a  field  which  in 
his  essay  he  said  he  had  not  then  entered.  He  did  not  aim  to 
make  an  exhaustive  list  of  extant  versions  of  the  Psalms  in 
English  verse.  His  purpose  was  to  select  the  more  important 
and  complete  versions,  and  those  partial  versions  which  illus- 
trated some  peculiar  literary  expression  or  metrical  form  suffi- 
cient to  base  upon  them  a  judgment  of  the  character  of  any  such 
versions  in  English.  He  kept  adding  to  his  list  steadily  until  too 
ill  to  do  more.— E.  W.  R. 


Northumberland  Psalter  in  I3th  Century. 

Psalms  by  Richard  Rolle  in  I4th  Century. 

R.  Rolle  of  Hampole  wrote  a  Commentary  on  The  Psalter,  and  it  was  edited 
by  Bramley  in  1884.  It  is  substantially  a  translation  of  the  Exposito  Psal- 
terie;  the  translation  often  agrees  with  the  English  Psalter  in  verse.  It  bears 
Rolle's  name.  A  Psalter  in  verse  was  doubtfully  ascribed  to  Rolle.  It  seems 
to  belong  to  a  very  early  date,  but  the  archaic  character  is  due  in  some 
degree  to  the  use  of  Anglo-Saxon  glossary.  A  version  of  the  "Seven  Peni- 
tential Psalms  in  Verse"  was  wrongly  ascribed  to  him. 

Seven  Penitential  Psalms,  1414,  by  T.  Brampton. 

Fifteen  "Goostly  Psalms"  in  Verse,  by  Miles  Coverdale,  1539. 

Thomas  Wyatt  (Partial  Version),  1549. 

Sir  Philip  Sydney  and  his  sister,  the  Countess  of  Pembroke,  1583. 

Henry  Lok. 

Appended  to  his  work  on  Ecclesiastes  and  poems  are  "Sundry  Psalmes  of 
David  translated  into  verse,  as  briefly  and  significantly  as  the  scope  of  the 
text  will  suffer."  The  Psalms  thus  versified  are  7,  27,  119  (22  parts),  121, 
130,  and  The  Lord's  Prayer.  Possibly  Lok  deserves  the  credit  of  being  unique 
in  his  peculiar  method  of  versifying  the  Psalms  .  .  .  His  scheme  is  to  trans- 
late one  verse  of  Scripture,  whether  long  or  short,  into  exactly  one  metrical 
line,  so  that  the  number  of  lines  in  a  metrical  Psalm  of  Lok  invariably  corre- 
spond to  the  number  of  verses  in  the  original.  [Mr.  Rice  wrote  an  extended 
special  criticism  upon  Lok's  poetical  writings. — E.  W.  R-l 

Seven  Penitential  Psalms,  Edmund  Spencer,  1552-1599  (Lost). 
A.  L. — Anne  Lok,  1559. 

"A  meditation  of  a  penitent  sinner,  written  in  manner  of  a  Paraphrase  after 
the  5 ist  Psalm  of  David."  Inscribed  "Liber  Henrici  Lock  ex  domo  Anne 
uxoris  suae,  1559." 

1371 


Psalm  130,  "A  Hundred  Sundrie  Flowers,"  George  Gascoigne, 
1574- 

Matthew  Parker,  1504-1575. 

"The  whole  Psalter  translated  into  English  Metre,  which  contayneth  a 
hundred  and  fifty  Psalmes.  Imprinted  at  London  by  John  Daye.  Cum 
gratia  et  privilegio  Regae  Maiestratis  per  Decennium."  With  translation 
of  the  "Veni  Creator"  and  music  for  same.  C.  C.  Coll.  Library. 

Thomas  Sternhold  (d.  1549). 

"Certayne  Psalmes  chose  out  of  the  Psalter  of  David  and  drawn  into  English 
Metre  by  Thomas  Sternhold,  grome  of  ye  Kynges  Majesties  Roobes." 
Printed  by  Edward  Whitchurch.  19  Psalms  (1-5,  20,  25,  28,  29,  32,  34,  41, 
49>  73>  ?8>  103, 120, 123, 128).  Undated  but  not  earlier  than  1547  since  ded. 
to  Edward  VI.  (B.  M.) 

"Al  such  Psalmes  of  David  as  Thomas  Sternhold,  late  grome  of  the 
Kinges  maiesties  robes,  did  in  his  lyfetime  drawe  into  English  Metre." 
Printed  by  Edward  Whitchurch,  contains  in  addition  to  Psalms  of  previous 
edition  18  new  ones  (6-17,  19,  21,  43,  44,  63,  68);  also  7  by  John  Hopkins  who 
is  appointed  publisher  (Cambridge  University  Library). 

Psalter  printed  by  John  Daye  in  1561  contains  3  more  Psalms  by  Stern- 
hold  (18,  22,  23),  hence  complete  number  done  by  •Sternhold  was  40.  These 
40  appear  in  editions  of  1562,  1563. 

Queen  Elizabeth,  1533-1603. 

Psalm  XIV  with  following  title:  "The  XIII  Psalme  of  David,  called,  Dixit 
insipiens  touched  afore  of  my  Lady  Elizabeth."  Reprinted  in  Angl.  XIV. 

Barnaby  Barnes,  1569-1609. 

"A  Divine  Century  Centurie  of  Spirituall  Sonnets  .  .  .  London,  printed  by 
John  Windet,  1595." 

"Spiritual  Sonnets  are  echoes  of  the  Creator,  especially  of  passages 
from  the  Psalms,  Revelation,  and  the  Gospels.  The  Temple  Bible  lists  him 
among  metrical  psalm  writers  in  English,  but  upon  what  ground  I  am  unable 
to  say. 

Sir  John  Harrington,  1570. 

Manuscript  in  Douce  Collection  in  Bodleian.  Specimen's  in  Park's  edition  of 
"Nugae  Antiquae."  1804. 

Abraham  Fraunce,  1591. 

Francis  and  Christopher  Davison  and  others. 

Divers  Selected  Psalms  of  David  in  verse,  of  a  different  composure  from 
those  used  in  the  church. 

Harl.  ms.  B.  M. 

William  Hunnis,  1597. 

"Certayne  Psalmes  chosen  out  of  the  Psalter  of  David  and  drawen  forth  into 
English  meter,"  Lond.  1549. 

"Seven  Sobs  of  a  Sorrowful  Soule  for  Sinne:  Comprehending  those 
seven  Psalmes  of  the  Princelie  Prophet  David,  commonlie  called  Peniten- 
tial; framed  into  a  forme  of  familiar  praiers,  and  reduced  into  meeter  by 
William  Hunnis  .  .  .  whereunto  are  also  annexed  his  Handful  of  Honisuckles; 
the  Poor  Widowes  Mite;  a  Dialogue  between  Christ  and  a  sinner;  divers 
godlie  and  pithie  ditties,  with  a  Christian  Confession  of  and  to  the  Trinitie." 
(Brit.  M.)  Lond.  1583. 

[38] 


Henry  Ainsworth,  1612. 

"The  Books  of  Psalmes:  Englished  both  in  Prose  and  Metre."  Printed  at 
Amsterdam. 

Henry  Dod. 

"Metrical  Versions  of  certain  Psalms  by  H.  D.  (Cambridge  University 
Library.)  1603. 

"Al  the  Psalmes  of  David  with  certene  Songes  and  Canticles  of  Moses, 
Debora,  and  others,  not  formerly  extant  for  Song,  &c."  1620. 

Lord  Bacon,  1625. 

Seven  Psalms:    I,  12,  90,  104,  126,  137,  139.   Composed  during  illness,  1624. 

George  Wither,  1632. 

"The  Psalms  translated  into  Lyric  Verse,  according  to  the  scope  of  the 
original." 

George  Sandys  (or  des),  1557-1643. 

A  Paraphrase  upon  the  Psalms  of  David,  by  George  Sandys,  set  to  new  tunes 
for  private  devotions  and  a  thorough  bass  for  Voice  and  Instrument  by 
Henry  Lawes,  Gentlemen  of  His  Majesties  Chapel  Royal. 

Anonymous. 

Psalm  altered  from  A.  V.  1638.   Paraphrase  of  entire  Ps.  (B.  L.)  1640. 

The  Bay  Psalter,  1640. 

New  England,  1650. 

A  Revised  Version  of  Rous  made  by  President  Dunster  of  Harvard,  Richard 
Lyon  and  30  others. 

Lord  Thomas  Fairfax,  1651. 

Versified  Psalms,  but  were  never  printed. 

Bishop  Henry  King,  1651. 

"The  Psalms  of  David  from  the  New  Translation  of  the  Bible  turned  into 
Meeter." 

Richard  Staynhurst. 

Psalms  i,  2,  3,  4. 

Appended  to  his  translation  of  Virgil's  ^Eneid  with  following  title: 
"Heere  after  ensue  certeyn  Psalmes  of  David,  translated  in  too  English 
according  to  thee  observation  of  the  Latin  verses."  Eng.  Scholar's  Library, 
No.  10,  Ed.  by  Arber. 

John  Milton,  1608. 

Written  1653,  Psalms  I,  II,  III,  IV,  V,  VI,  VII,  VIII. 
Written  1648,  LXXX-LXXXVIII  incl. 
CXIV  (paraphrase)  (Also  done  in  Greek)  CXXXVI. 
Hymn  in  B.V.  Par.  L.— Ps.  148  (Para.) 

Richard  Baxter,  1615-1691. 

Issued  after  his  death.    (Not  complete  Version.) 

John  White,  1654. 

John  Patrick,  1698. 

Psalms  of  David  in  Metre. 

[39] 


Charles  Wesley,  1708-1788. 
Partial  Version. 

Isaac  Watts,  1674-1748. 

The  works  of  Isaac  Watts  ...  By  Dr.  Jennings  and  Dr.  Dodd ridge  in  1753 
...  To  which  are  prefixed  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  the  author  by  George 
Burder.  London,  1810.  6v.  Q. 
American  S.  S.  Union. 

Psalms  of  David  in  metre.  Translated  and  diligently  compared  with 
the  original  text  and  former  translations  .  .  .  Allowed  by  the  authority  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  and  appointed  to  be  sung  in 
congregations  and  families.  Glasgow,  William  Collins,  1871. 

295+71  p.  T.    150  Psalms,  67  paraphrases  and  5  hymns. 

Contains  also:  Translations  and  paraphrases  in  verse  of  several  passages 
of  sacred  Scripture.   Hymns. 
American  S.  S.  Union  Library. 

"The  Psalms  of  David,  imitated  in  the  Language  of  the  New  Testament; 
and  applied  to  the  Christian  state  and  worship,  by  I.  Watts,  D.D.,  Phila- 
delphia: Printed  and  sold  by  R.  Aitken,  third  door  above  the  coffee-house, 
Market  St.,  MDCCLXXXI."  Printed  from  larger  vol.  Phila.  Library. 

Anne  Steele,  1778. 

Partial  Version. 

Robert  Burns,  1759-1796. 

Ps.  I.   Ps.  XC  (first  six  verses).   See  his  poetical  works. 

Henry  Kirke  White,  1785-1806. 
Psalms  22  (incomplete). 

Isaac  Watts  (see  preceding  page). 

The  Psalms  of  David,  imitated  in  the  language  of  the  New  Testament  and 
applied  to  Christian  state  and  worship.   Lond.  J.  &  F.  Rivington,  1772. 
317  p.  16.   150  psalms. 
8  pages  of  tunes. 
Advertisement,  1728. 
American  S.  S.  Union. 

Psalms  of  David  in  metre.    Newly  translated  and  diligently  compared 
with  the  original  text  and  former  translations.    Allowed  by  the  authority 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  and  appointed  to  be  sung  in 
congregations  and  families.   Glasgow,  John  Bryce,  1757. 
324  p.  T.    150  psalms. 
American  S.  S.  Union  Library. 

Psalms  of  David  in  metre.    Allowed  by  the  authority  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  and  appointed  to  be  sung  in  congregations 
and  families.  With  analysis  or  brief  view  of  the  contents  of  each  psalm,  taken 
from  the  exposition  of  Matthew  Henry.   Phila.,  R.  Aitken,  1783. 
398  p.  S.    150  Psalms. 
American  S.  S.  Union  Library. 

Psalms  of  David,  according  to  the  version  approved  by  the  Church  of 
Scotland  and  appointed  to  be  used  in  worship.    Edin.,  J.  Dickson  &  P.  Hill, 
1792. 
360+122  p.  T.   150+67  psalms. 

Contains  also:    Translations  and  paraphrases,  in  verse,  of  several  pas- 
sages of  Scripture,  collected  and  prepared  by  a  committee  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Church  in  Scotland.    1792. 
American  S.  S.  Union  Library. 

[40! 


James  Merrick,  1720-1769. 

The  Psalms,  translated  or  paraphrased  in  English  Verse,  1766.  Bishop 
Home  quotes  and  commends  it.  He  was  the  author  of  the  poetical  fable 
"The  Chameleon." 

Lord  Byron, 

Hebrew  Melodies. 

James  Montgomery,  1771-1854. 

Partial  Version. 

Rev.  Basil  Wood,  M.A.,  1821. 

"A  New  Metrical  Version  of  the  Psalms  of  David;  with  An  Appendix  of 
Select  Psalms  and  Hymns,  adapted  to  the  Service  of  the  United  Church  of 
England  and  Ireland;  ...  By  Rev.  Basil  Woodd,  M.A."  London,  Printed  by 
E.  Bridgewater. 

Edmund  G.  Marsh,  1832. 

John  Brown,  1722-1787. 

The  Psalms  of  David  in  Metre:  Allowed  by  the  authority  of  the  Kirk  of 
Scotland,  and  of  Several  Branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  ...  By  John  Brown,  Late  Minister  of  the  Gospel  at  Haddington. 
Phila.,  Tower  and  Hogan. 

John  Keble,  1839. 

"The  Psa'cer  or  Psalms  of  David  in  English  verse,  by  a  member  of  the 
University  of  Oxford."  Oxford  Psalter. 

Bishop  Burgess,  of  Maine,  1840. 

Archdeacon  Churton,  1854. 
Cleveland  Psalms. 

Marquis  of  Lome,  1877. 
W.  D.  Seymour,  1882. 

Thomas  MacKellar,  Ph.D.,  1883,  1893. 

"Hymns  and  Metrical   Psalms   by  Thomas   MacKellar,    Ph.D."     Phila., 

Poter  and  Coates. 

Earlier  edition,  1883. 

Ps.  4,  5  (v.  1-3,  7,  8,  ii,  12),  8,  jo,  19,  46,  62,  86,  92,  93,  97,  100,  121,  145. 

Ps.  in  italics  appear  not  in  1883  ed.  but  in  1893  ed. 

Abraham  Coles,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  1888. 

"A  New  Rendering  of  the  Hebrew  Psalmes  into  English  Verse  with  Notes, 
Critical,  Historical  and  Biographical,  Including  an  Historical  Sketch  of  the 
French,  English  and  Scotch  Metrical  Versions."  N.  Y.,  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 


In  addition  to  compiling  the  foregoing  catalogue  of  Versions 
and  to  examining  various  Anglo-Saxon  and  Old  Middle  English 
Versions  not  definitely  noted  above,  Alfred  left  among  his  papers 
various  notes  and  criticisms  upon  some  other  Versions  not  listed 
and  upon  curious  examples  of  versification  of  the  Psalms.  Thus 
he  speaks  of  Abraham  Fraunce's  hexameters,  1581;  Pike's  lyrics 
without  rhyme,  1751;  Psalterium  Americanus  by  Cotton  Mather, 

[41! 


1718,  printed  like  prose,  but  the  Authorized  Version  thrown  into 
unrhymed  C.  M.  for  singing;  Wheatland  and  Sylvester's  heroics, 
1754;  Dennis's  Blank  Verse,  1808. 

He  also  had  several  notes  on  the  Pre-reformation  era;  for 
example  Bishop  Aldhelm  of  Sherborne,  A.D.  709  (according  to 
Bede)  composed  one  and  Archdeacon  Churton  ascribes  to  him 
an  Anglo-Saxon  version,  edited  by  Thorpe,  but  Thorpe  assigns 
it  to  a  later  date;  Latin  Psalms  with  interlinear  Anglo-Saxon 
gloss  and  a  translation  into  Middle  English;  a  translation  of 
St.  Gerome's  Gallican  Psalms  into  English  mentioned  by  Hol- 
land, the  Psalmist  of  Britain  at  the  date  of  Henry  II  or  Rich- 
ard I. 

He  also  has  notes  on  the  German  influence.  The  English 
Psalm  singing  sprang  from  intercourse  of  Gospellers  with  Luther 
and  Melancthon  and  familiarity  with  other  writings.  The 
influence  likewise  of  the  Ballad  Metres  of  Edward  VI  era  is 
quite  fully  noticed  and  criticized  and  again  of  the  Genevian 
influence  of  the  Marian  Exiles.  For  Psalm  singing  ceased  under 
Mary,  but  was  continued  by  the  exiles. 

Versions  of  the  Puritan  era  were  quite  literal  after  the 
manner  of  Rous. 

He  also  refers  quite  fully  to  the  reaction  which  is  signified 
by  the  partial  versions  of  S.  Woodford,  1667;  of  Miles  Smythe, 
1668;  of  Richard  Baxter,  1692,  and  of  Luke  Melbourne,  1698;  of 
Sir  Richard  Blackmore,  1721. — E.  W.  R. 


[42] 


In  the  Bret  Harte  Country 

On  the  fifth  of  May,  1902,  Francis  Bret  Harte,  schoolmaster, 
journalist,  poet  and  novelist,  died  in  England,  separated  by  six 
thousand  miles  from  the  country  whose  life  and  scenes  he  had 
depicted  in  his  works.  Just  prior  to  his  death,  had  he  been  per- 
mitted, as  was  the  writer  just  after  it  (in  1903),  to  visit  that 
country,  he  would  have  found  that  many  changes  had  taken 
place  in  his  absence.  California  today  is  not  the  California  of 
Bret  Harte.  Placer  or  surface  mining,  which  figures  so  exten- 
sively in  his  stories,  is  now  almost  unknown.  Many  California 
towns,  which  fifty  years  ago  were  populous  and  active,  are  today 
wholly  deserted  or  inhabited  by  a  half-dozen  stranded  families. 
Other  towns  have  sprung  up  on  land  that  was  desert  in  "forty- 
niner"  days  and  the  stage-coach  is  rapidly  being  supplanted  by 
the  locomotive.  Even  the  forces  of  nature  have  aided  in  the 
metamorphosis  and  numerous  earthquakes  and  floods  have 
ruined  many  old  Spanish  missions  and  other  landmarks  familiar 
to  the  reader  of  Bret  Harte. 

These  changes  have  not  been  so  complete,  however,  as  to 
leave  no  trace  of  the  past  in  the  California  of  today.  The  tourist 
will  still  find  extant  the  general  background  of  Bret  Harte's 
works.  He  will  be  too  painfully  conscious  of  the  "red  dust"  of 
the  California  roads.  He  will  hear  much  of  the  same  vigorous 
English  that  is  in  "Gabriel  Conroy"  or  Bret  Harte's  poems,  and 
he  will  be  surprised  to  find  that  many  of  the  old  claims  are  still 
being  worked  and  that  not  a  few  of  the  original  "forty-niners" 
are  working  them. 

THE  WONDERFUL  SPRING 

A  complete  topography  of  Bret  Harte's  works  would  cover 
nearly  all  of  California  and  the  neighboring  territory,  but  the 
tourist  will  find  certain  districts  more  interesting  in  their  associ- 
ations than  others  and,  unless  he  has  unlimited  time  at  his  dis- 
posal, he  will  do  well  to  select  two  or  three  of  these  regions  that 
especially  repay  a  visit.  Probably  the  country  around  Table 
Mountain  is  the  most  interesting  as  a  starting  point.  It  was  here 
that  Bret  Harte  came,  tired  and  discouraged,  over  a  road  of  red 
dust  to  seek  a  position  as  a  school  teacher.  Old  Jim  Gillis  (the 
"Truthful  James"  of  Bret  Harte)  still  tells  how  he  met  "Bret" 
by  the  roadside  and  loaned  him  twenty  dollars  to  help  him  travel 
to  San  Francisco.  To  visit  this  region  the  tourist  takes  a  train 
from  Sacramento  to  Stockton,  where  there  is  a  curious  spring 

[43  1 


that  produces  hot  water  impregnated  with  gas.  The  water  is 
75°  to  80°  F.  as  it  rushes  to  the  surface,  but  after  it  has  stood  a 
few  minutes  in  a  tank  the  latent  heat  of  the  gas  seems  to  make 
the  temperature  several  degrees  warmer.  The  gas  from  the 
spring  is  collected  and  used  for  light,  heat,  and  power,  while  the 
water  is  used  for  drinking  and  bathing  purposes.  Situated  as  it 
is  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  it  is  especially  interesting  to  any 
one  who  has  read  Bret  Harte's  poem  "The  Wonderful  Spring  of 
the  San  Joaquin."  At  Stockton  the  tourist  takes  another  train 
to  Sonora.  From  here  a  stage  runs  to  Tuttletown  which  is  the 
best  place  for  headquarters.  Sonora  is  still  a  typical  mining 
town.  It  stretches  along  one  crooked  street  for  nearly  a  mile  and 
so  frequent  are  the  taverns  that  one  who  walks  through  the  town 
is  continually  enveloped  in  an  odor  of  stale  liquor.  There  are 
several  old  inhabitants  of  Sonora  who  remember  Bret  Harte  well, 
and  there  is  a  tradition,  probably  erroneous,  that  he  once  taught 
school  there. 

THE  STAGE 

The  stage-coach  between  Sonora  and  Tuttletown  leaves  the 
former  place  early  in  the  morning  and  runs  through  several  settle- 
ments of  interest,  including  the  famous  Shaw's  Flat. 

The  personnel  of  the  passengers  on  the  stage  the  morning  I 
started  was  exceedingly  interesting.  On  the  front  seat  with  the 
driver  and  myself  was  a  district  violin  teacher  known  as  the 
"fiddle  professor,"  whose  chief  baggage  was  a  bottle  of  whiskey 
and  some  black  cigars.  The  former  he  passed  around  among  the 
passengers  at  regular  intervals  of  about  three  miles  each,  while 
he  kept  the  latter  for  personal  use  only.  On  the  second  seat  was 
a  stone  deaf  man  who  talked  continually,  punctuating  each  sen- 
tence with  a  boisterous  laugh  irrespective  of  context.  Besides 
these  passengers  there  were  two  "ladies,"  the  fingers  of  one  of 
whom  were  yellow  with  cigarette  stains.  When  this  one  expressed 
a  desire  to  smoke,  her  companion  checked  her  by  telling  her  it 
was  "not  polite  for  ladies  to  smoke  in  public."  The  stage  driver 
was  the  finishing  touch  to  the  load.  Ruffled  at  a  delay  in  starting, 
he  had  little  to  say  on  the  journey  but  drove  his  four  horses  at  a 
furious  gait,  cracking  his  long  whip  with  a  dextrous  motion  of  his 
forearm.  When  the  professor  offered  him  the  bottle,  he  accepted 
but  never  with  a  word  of  thanks  or  a  turn  of  his  head  toward  the 
donor.  Throughout  the  drive  "Table  Mountain,"  a  low  plateau 
some  twenty-five  miles  long,  was  almost  continually  in  sight. 

TRUTHFUL  JAMES  AND  JIM  GILLIS 

It  was  on  Table  Mountain  that  "Truthful  James,"  the 
mouthpiece  of  the  "Heathen  Chinee,"  resided,  as  everyone 

[441 


remembers  from  the  lines  in  which  he  introduces  himself  to  the 
reader: 

I  reside  at  Table  Mountain  and  my  name  is  Truthful  James; 
I  am  not  up  to  small  deceit  or  any  sinful  games; 
And  I'll  tell  in  simple  language  what  I  know  about  the  row 
That  broke  up  our  Society  upon  the  Stanislow. 

"Truthful  James"  is  also  known  as  the  man  who  in  the 
"Jumping  Frog  of  Calaveras"  won  in  a  frog  race  by  previously 
feeding  shot  to  his  opponent's  frog.  The  home  of  "Truthful 
James"  still  stands  and  is  inhabited  by  Jim  and  his  brother 
Steve.  It  is  situated  on  Jackass  Hill,  a  little  eminence  about  a 
mile  from  Tuttletown,  and  is  approached  by  a  winding  trail 
through  a  thickly  wooded  country.  Jim  Gillis  is  still  a  noted  man 
in  his  community.  He  is  not  actively  engaged  in  mining  himself 
but  leases  out  his  claims  on  a  ten  per  cent  basis  and  it  is  said 
that  the  rentals  render  him  quite  an  income  to  this  day.  Steve 
Gillis,  his  brother,  whom  I  found  working  at  a  mine  on  Jackass 
Hill,  told  me  that  a  few  weeks  before  my  arrival  one  nugget  worth 
over  three  thousand  dollars  had  been  taken  from  the  hill.  The 
name  of  Jackass  Hill  originated  in  the  days  when  placer  mining 
was  done  and  asses  were  used  to  carry  the  dirt  down  the  hill  to  be 
washed  at  the  foot.  Now,  only  quartz  or  pocket  mining  is  carried 
on,  but  exactly  the  same  territory  is  being  worked  as  before. 

NOT  THE  MARK  TWAIN  CABIN 

Near  by  the  house  of  Jim  Gillis  is  the  famous  "  Bret  Harte 
and  Mark  Twain  cabin"  in  which  it  is  said  that  those  two  writers 
lived  together  for  some  time.  The  truth  is  that  neither  of  the 
men  occupied  the  building  for  a  single  night  and  the  man  who 
claims  to  have  taken  the  picture  which  was  published  all  over 
the  United  States,  confessed  to  the  writer  that  he  selected  that 
building  because  it  looked  particularly  old  and  because,  as  he 
put  it,  "you  might  as  well  say  that  was  it  as  any  other."  Steve 
Gillis,  who  ushered  me  over  Jackass  Hill  and  through  the  house  of 
"Truthful  James,"  pointed  out  near  an  old  oak  tree  a  spot  where, 
he  said,  the  Mark  Twain  cabin  actually  did  stand,  but  no  trace 
is  left  of  it  today.  In  passing,  it  may  be  remarked  that  Steve 
Gillis  is,  in  his  way,  quite  as  noted  as  his  brother.  He  was  the 
celebrated  second  in  the  Mark  Twain  duel  and  roomed  with 
"Mark"  for  several  years  in  San  Francisco.  He  thinks  Mark 
Twain  the  funniest  and  best  man  that  ever  lived  and  never  tires 
of  talking  of  him. 

Until  recently  there  was  a  second  claimant  to  the  title  of 
"Truthful  James,"  a  man  by  the  name  of  Jim  Townsend,  who 
died  a  few  years  ago  in  the  East.  He  was  said  to  have  been  an 
extremely  penurious  man,  and  there  is  a  tradition  in  Tuttletown 

[45] 


to  the  effect  that  in  building  his  house  he  was  so  sparing  of  his 
lumber  that  the  house  when  completed  was  so  small  that  he  had 
to  grease  himself  to  get  inside  and  a  corkscrew  was  necessary  to 
draw  him  out! 

ROCKER  MINING 

Other  interesting  characters  in  Tuttletown  are  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Swerer  who  formerly  kept  the  "Pioneer  Store"  where  Mark 
Twain  and  possibly  Bret  Harte  traded.  Mrs.  Swerer  is  the  proud 
mother  of  twelve  living  children,  most  of  whom  are  engaged  in 
some  kind  of  mining  in  California.  Having  been  so  successful 
in  raising  children,  she  has  now  turned  her  attention  to  fowl  of 
various  kinds,  and  has  become  noted  as  the  owner  of  an  owl  that 
hatched  a  brood  of  chickens  and  raised  a  brace  of  ducks.  Per- 
haps I  looked  incredulous  when  Mrs.  Swerer  told  me  of  the 
various  exotic  offspring  that  this  owl  had  fondled.  At  any  rate, 
she  insisted  upon  giving  a  little  exhibition  of  the  bird  for  my 
benefit,  by  feeding  bits  of  meat  to  her,  which  she  in  turn  fed  to 
two  ducks  that  were  already  grown  to  be  larger  than  herself. 
Mrs.  Swerer  is  also  the  possessor  of  a  good  collection  of  minerals 
and  old  relics  of  early  mining  days.  Especially  interesting  to  the 
antiquarian  is  her  old  hand  "rocker,"  the  machine  that  was  used 
so  extensively  in  placer  mining.  The  auriferous  earth  was  placed 
in  this  "rocker"  which  resembled  a  hand  ash  sifter  and  water  was 
poured  over  it  while  the  miner  kept  the  "  rocker  "  in  motion.  The 
siftings  from  the  "rocker"  fell  upon  an  "apron"  which  was  either 
an  oblique  sheet  of  corrugated  iron  or  a  piece  of  cloth.  The  free 
gold  was  caught  in  the  corrugations  or  on  the  cloth  and  the  \vaste 
dirt  or  "tailings"  were  allowed  to  escape.  One  who  travels 
through  the  old  mining  regions  of  California  will  see  miles  of  ter- 
ritory covered  with  thousands  of  hills  of  "tailings"  resembling 
large  ant  hills.  In  the  vicinity  of  Columbia,  a  little  town  not  far 
from  Sonora,  long  continued  placer  mining  has  produced  a  most 
curious  effect  upon  the  scenery.  When  the  miners  came  to  the 
region,  great  limestone  rocks,  twenty  to  thirty  feet  deep,  were 
embedded  in  the  gold  bearing  soil.  Year  after  year,  the  miners 
washed  away  this  soil  until  the  general  level  of  the  ground  was 
reduced  thirty  feet  while  the  grest  limestone  rocks  which  were 
unearthed  remained.  These  rocks  are  remarkably  white  and, 
when  seen  at  night  under  a  full  moon,  look  like  a  cemetery  filled 
with  gigantic  tombstones. 

SAN  FRANCISCO  IN  1903 

San  Francisco  and  its  vicinity  constitute  a  second  region 
which  the  literary  tourist  should  visit.  The  Overland 
Monthly,  with  which  Bret  Harte's  early  career  was  connected 
and  in  which  the  "Luck  of  Roaring  Camp"  originally  appeared, 

[46] 


is  still  published  in  San  Francisco,  though  not  in  the  original 
building.  In  the  Golden  Gate  Park  is  a  statue  of  Thomas  Starr 
King,  the  California  pioneer  whose  friendship  meant  so  much  to 
Bret  Harte  and  at  whose  death  he  wrote  the  eulogy  "On  a  Pen 
of  Thomas  Starr  King." 

Lone  Mountain,  San  Francisco,  is  the  locale  of  Bret  Harte's 
poem  of  that  name  and  the  old  Cliff  House,  now  replaced  by  a 
new  one,  is  the  scene  of  the  "Ballad  of  J.  Cook."  Commercial, 
Montgomery  and  Pacific  streets,  which  are  mentioned  in  "Gabriel 
Conroy,"  are  still  active  business  streets  in  San  Francisco,  though 
rather  narrow  and  dingy.  Following  the  steps  of  Ramirez,  the 
villain  of  "Gabriel  Conroy,"  who  bought  a  dagger  in  a  junk  shop 
on  Pacific  street,  I  entered  an  old  shop  in  the  same  location  and 
found  a  rusty  Spanish  weapon  quite  old  enough  to  have  been  seen 
by  Ramirez.  The  price  of  the  piece  was  "  six  bits  "  or  seventy-five 
cents,  two  bits  being  equivalent  to  the  American  quarter. 

MISSION  DOLORES 

One  of  the  finest  of  Bret  Harte's  poems  not  in  dialect — "The 
Angelus,"  is  centered  about  the  Mission  Dolores,  a  picturesque 
old  Spanish  mission  on  the  outskirts  of  San  Francisco.  A  part  of 
the  poem  is  worth  quoting: 

Bells  of  the  Past,  whose  long-forgotten  music 

Still  fills  the  wide  expanse, 
Tingeing  the  sober  twilight  of  the  Present 

With  colour  of  romance! 

I  hear  you  call  and  see  the  sun  descending 

On  rock  and  wave  and  sand, 
As  down  the  coast  the  Mission  voices  blending, 

Girdle  the  heathen  land. 

Within  the  circle  of  your  incantation 

No  blight  nor  mildew  falls; 
Nor  fierce  unrest,  nor  lust,  nor  low  ambition 

Passes  those  airy  walls. 

SANTA  CLARA 

Going  south  from  San  Francisco  the  tourist  will  reach,  after 
a  short  ride,  San  Jose  and  the  beautiful  Santa  Clara  Valley.  The 
latter  is  the  scene  of  the  short  story  "Through  the  Santa  Clara 
Wheat."  In  my  travels  through  California,  I  found  no  region 
where  the  inhabitants  knew  less  about  their  own  communities 
than  in  the  Santa  Clara  Valley.  In  San  Jose  I  endeavored  to 
find  the  oldest  hotel  in  town  in  order  that  I  might  see  which  one 
figured  in  the  short  story  I  have  mentioned.  But  after  asking 
many  of  the  old  inhabitants,  all  of  whom  were  utterly  ignorant 
upon  the  subject,  I  was  forced  to  give  up  the  investigation.  In 

[47] 


Palo  Alto,  a  town  in  the  northern  part  of  the  valley,  I  found  a 
man  who  could  not  tell  me  which  way  the  house  numbers  ran  on 
his  own  street.  Wheat,  which  was  the  great  product  of  the  Santa 
Clara  Valley  in  Bret  Harte's  day,  has  been  replaced  by  prunes, 
the  orchards  here  being  second  in  fame  only  to  Italian  orchards. 
Lick  Observatory,  which  has  been  located  on  Mount  Hamilton 
since  Bret  Harte's  time,  overlooks  this  fertile  valley  and  the 
tourist  who  wishes  to  see  the  extent  of  the  orchards  will  do  well 
to  take  the  twenty-eight-mile  stage  ride*  from  San  Jose  to  the 
summit.  Within  a  day's  journey  of  San  Jose  are  the  towns  of 
Santa  Clara,  Santa  Cruz  and  Monterey,  all  of  which  are  interest- 
ing and  historic. 

SAN  GABRIEL 

Continuing  south  from  San  Jose  the  tourist  passes  along  the 
Pacific  Coast,  through  Santa  Barbara  to  Los  Angeles.  Nine 
miles  from  the  latter  city  is  the  little  town  of  San  Gabriel  with 
its  old  Spanish  mission.  Besides  being  one  of  the  oldest  missions 
in  California  in  perfect  preservation,  the  San  Gabriel  Mission 
has  a  special  interest  as  the  scene  of  Bret  Harte's  poem  "Don 
Diego  of  the  South."  The  old  padre  who  showed  us  through  the 
mission  pointed  out  in  the  rear  of  the  building  a  confessional 
which,  rotten  with  age,  we  may  imagine  was  the  one  used  by 
Donna  Inez  and  Don  Diego. 

At  Los  Angeles  the  trip  we  have  outlined  will  conveniently 
terminate.  Other  settlements  mentioned  by  Bret  Harte,  such  as 
Red  Dog,  Poker  Flat,  Sandy  Bar  and  Angel's  Camp,  might  have 
been  included  in  the  itinerary,  but  most  of  these  places  are  diffi- 
cult of  access  and  at  least  one  is  of  uncertain  identification.  Not 
many  years  hence  the  tourist  will  probably  be  able  to  visit  all 
of  the  Bret  Harte  country  by  rail.  Even  now  a  line  is  in  course 
of  construction  between  Jimtown,  Tuttletown  and  Angel's  Camp. 
The  antiquarian  necessarily  looks  with  regret  upon  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  railway  as  a  potent  agency  in  eradicating  the  last 
remnants  of  the  strenuous  life  of  the  "forty-niners,"  but  the 
ordinary  tourist,  who  has  once  traveled  through  the  remote  dis- 
tricts of  California  by  the  tedious  methods  used  there  today,  will 
welcome  the  conveniences  of  the  railway. 

ALFRED  BELDEN  RICE,  'oo  C.,  '03  A.M. 


*Now  by  electric  trolley. 

[48] 


"Oversea  Notes"  in  the  Leisure  Hour,  London 

The  Advertising  Nuisance 

The  ingenuity  of  the  American  advertiser  is  apparently 
limitless.  His  work  is  found  in  every  part  of  the  United  States 
and  penetrates  every  side  of  life.  In  the  street  cars  he  erects 
cardboard  figures  which  are  caused  to  dance  or  gesticulate  by 
the  motion  of  the  cars;  at  public  gatherings  out-of-doors  he 
spreads  advertisements  in  the  sky  by  means  of  mechanical  kites; 
at  night  he  throws  pictures  upon  the  clouds  by  his  powerful 
search-light  or  makes  a  varkty  of  effects  by  electric  signs,  and, 
in  short,  attracts  your  attention  in  a  hundred  different  ways  as 
you  go  about  your  business  or  recreation.  Many  forms  of  adver- 
tising which  the  advertiser  thus  thrusts  before  the  public  are 
perfectly  legitimate  and  respect  the  rights  of  higher  interests. 
Others,  however,  bidding  for  attention  at  any  cost,  have  become 
real  nuisances,  respecting  neither  man  nor  nature.  One  of  the 
greatest  nuisances  of  this  kind  is  the  practice  of  lining  the  rail- 
ways with  advertising-fences,  which  seriously  disfigure  the 
scenery.  On  the  railway  line  between  Philadelphia  and  Atlantic 
City,  for  example,  everything  is  advertised  in  this  way,  from 
liver  pills  to  real  estate.  It  is  true  that  the  scenery  along  this 
particular  road  is  not  especially  attractive,  but  no  such  con- 
sideration, we  may  be  sure,  influenced  the  advertisers,  for  we 
find  the  same  condition  along  the  railway  between  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  and  on  others. 

Another  practice  which  equally  mars  the  scenery  is  that  of 
painting  barns  and  even  houses  with  huge  advertisements  It 
is  true  that  the  individual  formers  are  largely  responsible  for 
this  disfigurement,  since  the  advertising  firms  no  doubt  agree 
to  paint  the  properties  gratis  on  the  condition  that  they  be 
allowed  to  coyer  them  with  advertising  matter.  In  New  England 
this  practice  is  apparently  not  so  common  as  in  the  middle  States. 
The  New  England  farmers  are  either  of  aesthetic  taste  or  pros- 
perous enough  to  paint  their  buildings  themselves,  but  the  cus- 
tom in  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  neighbouring  States  is 
quite  general,  and  the  scenery  along  the  railways  traversing  these 
districts  consequently  disfigured. 

Still  another  nuisance  of  the  advertiser  is  his  propensity  to 
decorate — or  rather  desecrate — rocks,  trees  and  fences  with  his 

[491 


advertisements.  This  habit  is  unfortunately  not  confined  to 
the  cities.  Along  the  most  sequestered  country  road  one  is  quite 
apt  to  find  a  whitewashed  rock  or  disfiguring  sign  upon  a  tree, 
advertising  Somebody's  Clothing  Store,  or  So  and  So's  Dog  Soap. 
In  all  this  we  find  the  same  commercial  spirit  as  that  which  seeks 
to  destroy  Niagara  Falls  for  its  motive  power,  or  to  wreck  the 
palisades  of  the  Hudson  to  obtain  building-stone;  and  just  as  a 
strong  opposition  has  arisen  against  these  larger  desecrations 
of  nature,  it  is  hoped  that  the  minor  assaults  of  the  advertiser 
will  also  be  checked.— A.  B.  R. 

A  Scientific  Investigation  of  English  Verse 

Scholars  have  differed  for  some  time  on  the  subject  of  accent 
and  quantity  in  English  verse  and  prose.  It  has  been  generally 
conceded  that  accent  is  by  far  the  most  important  element  in  the 
rhythm  of  English  verse,  but  some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  claim 
that  it  is  the  only  element,  altogether  denying  that  quantity 
plays  a  role  at  all.  The  rhythm  of  classical  verse  and  prose,  it  is 
well  known,  depended  chiefly  on  quantity,  and  we  know  that 
a  Roman  orator,  guilty  of  a  single  false  quantity,  would  be 
immediately  hissed  off  the  forum  by  his  audience.  Such  keen- 
ness of  ear  for  long  and  short  syllables  is,  of  course,  unknown  to 
English  audiences,  and  many  question  the  propriety  of  writing 
English  poetry  in  classical  measures  on  this  account.  It  is 
pointed  out  that  the  march  time  of  the  classical  dactylic  metre, 
for  example,  is  reduced  by  the  English  system  to  a  waltz  move- 
ment consisting  of  feet  of  three  equally  long  syllables,  with  an 
accent  on  the  first.  The  effect,  therefore,  of  a  poem  like  Long- 
fellow's Evangeline  is  entirely  different  from  the  original  effect 
of  a  dactylic  passage  of  Virgil.  It  seems,  however,  that  quantity 
does  form  one  element,  if  indeed  a  minor  one,  of  English  rhythm. 
Professor  Scripture  of  Yale  University  instituted  a  scientific 
investigation  of  the  character  of  English  verse  by  means  of  the 
phonograph.  He  asked  representative  men  from  various  parts 
of  the  country  to  recite  into  the  receiver  of  his  instrument  some 
well-known  lines  of  English  verse,  and  in  this  way  records  were 
produced  which  could  be  accurately  measured  for  accent  and 
quantity.  Professor  Scripture  announced  that  his  investigations 
have  thus  far  proved  that  quantity  is  a  factor  in  English  verse. 
The  value  of  Professor  Scripture's  work  must  necessarily  be  more 
scientific  than  practical.  His  investigation  may  make  academic 
disputes  on  the  question  of  fact  as  to  the  presence  or  absence  of 
quantity  in  English  verse  and  prose  impossible,  but  it  cannot 
authoritatively  sanction  or  condenm  the  use  of  classical  measures 
in  English  poetry,  for  that  is,  after  all,  a  matter  of  individual 
taste.— A.  B.  R. 

[Sol 


Incidents  in  Life  at  High  Altitudes 

It  is  quite  generally  recognized  by  all  who  have  even  a  slight 
acquaintance  with  science  that  certain  abnormal  changes  are 
occasioned  in  the  barometer  and  other  meteorological  instru- 
ments by  great  altitudes  but  few  of  us  who  have  not  been  taught 
by  actual  experience  know  of  the  practical  difficulties  and  peculi- 
arities of  life  at  great  heights.  The  Rocky  Mountain  district 
of  the  United  States  affords  an  excellent  field  from  which  to 
observe  these  peculiarities,  for  in  the  states  of  Colorado,  Utah, 
Wyoming,  Nevada,  etc.,  thousands  of  people  live  the  year  round 
at  altitudes  of  from  3000  to  10,000  feet.  Denver,  Colorado,  a 
city  of  135,000  inhabitants,  lies  on  a  plateau  just  one  mile  above 
the  sea,  while  its  neighbouring  city,  Colorado  Springs,  is  about 
1000  feet  higher.  Many,  if  not  a  majority  of  the  farmers,  how- 
ever, live  on  the  surrounding  mountains,  which,  unlike  the  Alps, 
will  sustain  farm  life  at  8000  and  even  10,000  feet.  But  the  life 
must  be  modified  to  meet  the  meteorological  conditions.  First 
of  all  the  housewife  who  moves  to  a  mountain  ranch  must 
abandon  her  trusted  cookery-book,  or  at  least  reconstruct  all 
of  its  recipes.  Otherwise  her  puddings  and  pies  will  be  con- 
tinually boiling  over  the  stove,  and  her  vegetables  will  never  be 
thoroughly  cooked.  In  making  cake,  for  example,  she  must  use 
less  butter,  eggs,  milk,  etc.,  and  more  flour  than  the  ordinary 
recipe  requires.  Ignorance  of  these  peculiarities  has  caused 
many  a  young  housewife  to  spoil  cake  after  cake,  until  a  sym- 
pathetic neighbour  or  her  own  observations  have  pointed  out 
the  reason  for  the  failures.  Then,  again,  there  are  difficulties  in 
poultry  raising,  due  to  the  dryness  of  the  atmosphere  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  A  few  days  before  a  brood  of  chickens  are 
hatched  out,  it  is  necessary  to  wet  the  eggs  upon  which  the  hen 
is  sitting;  otherwise  they  would  become  so  dry  that  only  a  small 
number  of  chickens  would  succeeJ  in  pecking  through  the  shells. 
Effects  of  these  altitudes  on  human  beings  are  also  noticeable. 
The  heart  beats  more  rapidly,  the  breathing  becomes  deeper, 
and  a  general  exhilaration  is  felt.  Until  one  becomes  accustomed 
to  the  conditions,  exercise  quickly  takes  away  the  breath,  and 
singing  or  playing  upon  a  wind  instrument  soon  becomes  fatigu- 
ing. As  the  altitude  is  increased  all  of  these  effects  are  intensified. 
At  Leadville,  Colorado,  which  is  about  10,000  feet  high,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  cook  beans  at  all,  while  on  the  summit  of 
Pike's  Peak,  which  is  more  than  14,000  feet,  the  barometer 
registers  17  inches,  and  water  boils  at  184°  Fahr.,  making  it 
necessary  to  boil  potatoes  for  four  hours  to  render  them  soft 
enough  to  eat.  Even  the  lower  animals  are  affected  by  such 
altitudes,  and  horses  and  mules  often  have  nose-bleeds  along 
with  their  masters.  Of  course  atmospheric  conditions  change 

[Si] 


from  time  to  time  upon  the  mountains  as  they  do  at  lower  levels, 
and  certain  months  and  days  are  more  severe  than  others. 
During  the  winter  months  few  travellers  are  bold  enough  to  go 
to  the  top  of  Pike's  Peak,  and  those  who  have  been  caught  at 
the  summit  during  a  severe  storm  even  in  summer  have  found 
the  atmospheric  changes  most  exhausting.  The  effects  too  are 
different  upon  different  constitutions.  It  has  been  found  unsafe 
for  any  one  with  heart  trouble  to  ride  up  the  mountain  at  any 
time,  as  fainting  or  even  death  is  liable  to  result.  The  animal 
which  is  most  used  in  the  Rockies  for  mountain  climbing  is  the 
"burro,"  a  Spanish  name  for  a  little  donkey.  He  is  a  very  small 
animal,  but  exceedingly  strong  and  sure-footed,  and  is  able  to 
travel  to  the  summits  of  the  highest  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
without  difficulty.  At  lower  altitudes  not  exceeding  10,000  feet, 
cattle,  horses,  sheep  and  goats  thrive  well,  and  only  to  mention 
one  instance,  your  correspondent  found  a  fine  old  ranchman  who 
was  conducting  a  large  cattle-ranch  in  the  wildest  part  of  the 
Rockies,  7000  feet  above  the  sea. — A.  B.  R. 

Business  Methods  in  American  Universities 

The  university  or  college  has  generally  been  regarded 
hitherto  as  an  institution  altogether  different  from  a  mercantile 
establishment.  Existing  as  it  does  in  a  world  by  itself,  the  uni- 
versity is  conceded  the  right  to  pursue  her  own  peculiar  methods 
and  to  hold  herself  quite  aloof  from  the  commercial  world.  But 
whether  the  commercialism  of  American  life  has  proved  infec- 
tious among  the  colleges,  or  the  colleges  by  a  natural  expansion 
of  their  former  methods  have  entered  the  commercial  field,  the 
fact  remains  that  competitive  business  methods  are  rapidly 
becoming  strong  elements  of  college  government  in  the  United 
States.  The  methods  by  which  many  colleges  and  universities 
seek  to  gain  new  students  have  recently  become  especially 
noticeable.  Probably  the  commonest  method  employed  is  to 
mail  numerous  catalogues  and  circulars  to  all  young  men  or 
women  who,  it  is  thought,  might  be  induced  to  become  students 
at  the  institution  scattering  the  advertising  matter.  The  pro- 
fessional schools,  such  as  schools  of  medicine,  dentistry,  law, 
theology,  etc.,  obtain  from  the  neighbouring  colleges  and  high- 
schools  lists  of  students  about  to  graduate.  Many  of  these 
students  have  already  decided  to  pursue  some  technical  courses, 
and  when  an  attractive  circular  is  put  into  their  hands  giving 
all  the  details  of  expense,  social  life,  etc.,  at  a  certain  institution, 
these  students  are  frequently  induced  to  go  to  the  school  thus 
advertised.  When  scholarships  paying  all  or  part  of  the  expenses 
can  be  offered  in  the  circulars,  acceptances  are  practically  assured. 
Another  method  by  which  the  universities  endeavor  to  compete 

[5*1 


with  their  rivals  in  gaining  students  is  to  send  a  representative 
on  two  or  three  tours  in  much  the  same  way  that  a  commercial 
establishment  sends  out  a  commercial  traveller  or  "drummer" 
to  work  up  business  "on  the  road."  The  representative  of  the 
college  gives  several  lectures  on  his  institution  at  the  towns  or 
cities  where  he  stops,  and  furnishes  all  information  regarding 
expense  and  other  particulars  that  may  be  asked  of  him. — 
A.  B.  R. 

Summer  Schools  in  the  United  States 

In  a  former  note  which  I  contributed  to  The  Leisure  Hour, 
the  function  of  the  "correspondence  school"  in  the  United 
States  was  briefly  outlined.  Another  educational  institution 
that  is  somewhat  similar  to  the  "correspondence  school,"  and 
is  of  like  recent  origin,  i?  the  so-called  Chautauqua  or  summer 
vacation  school.  All  summer  schools  may  be  divided  into  two 
general  classes,  those  conducted  at  and  under  the  management 
of  colleges  and  universities  belonging  to  the  first  class,  while 
those  located  in  the  mountains  or  at  a  summer  resort  elsewhere 
belong  to  the  second  class,  and  are  alone  called  Chautauquas 
by  careful  users  of  the  term.  The  name  Chautauqua  has  been 
applied  to  these  schools  from  the  fact  that  the  first  institution 
of  the  kind  was  established  on  Lake  Chautauqua,  N.  Y.  Al- 
though hundreds  of  Chautauquas  have  been  established  all  over 
the  United  States  in  the  years  that  have  elapsed  since  their 
organization,  the  original  Chautauqua  still  remains  the  leading 
one.  During  last  summer  this  school  offered  some  fifteen  courses 
in  its  curriculum,  representing  such  subjects  as  English  Litera- 
ture, German,  French,  Greek,  Latin,  Mathematics,  Psychology, 
Music,  Domestic  Science,  etc.  The  great  advantage  that  the 
Chautauqua  has  over  the  university  summer  school  is  the  oppor- 
tunity it  affords  the  student  to  combine  study  with  out-of-door 
recreation.  For  example,  the  New  York  Chautauqua  is  situated 
on  a  beautiful  site  on  Chautauqua  Lake,  where  sanitary  and 
climatic  conditions  are  thoroughly  healthful.  The  Rocky 
Mountain  Chautauqua,  as  its  name  suggests,  is  situated  in  a 
little  town  in  the  midst  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  over  a  mile 
above  the  sea-level.  The  Garden  of  the  Gods  Chautauqua, 
organized  last  summer,  is  located  near  Colorado  Springs,  Colo., 
one  of  the  most  popular  and  delightful  summer  resorts  of  the 
west.  The  tuition  for  courses  of  instruction  in  the  Chautauquas 
varies  in  amount  with  the  studies  selected  and  with  the  individual 
schools,  but  the  charge  is  never  high,  although  scholars  of  national 
and  international  reputations  are  secured  to  conduct  many  of  the 
courses.  Hotels,  boarding  cottages,  and  tents  are  often  operated 
in  connection  with  the  schools,  so  that  rooms  and  board  may  be 
obtained  at  rates  from  $5.00  (£i)  a  week  up.  Primarily,  the 

[S3l 


Chautauqua  is  not  a  money-making  institution,  and  many  of 
them  now  in  operation  are  not  paying  expenses.  Others,  how- 
ever, are  even  financially  successful,  and  all,  we  may  say,  pro- 
duce important  results  in  the  moral  and  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  our  people. — A.  B.  R. 

How  Tramps  Travel 

It  is  well  known  that  American  railways  involuntarily 
carry  gratis  thousands  of  tramps  every  year.  Probably  fewer 
tramps  steal  rides  now  than  twenty  years  ago,  when  it  was  a 
common  sight  to  see  a  freight  train  (goods  train)  loaded  with 
them,  but  the  practice  still  continues  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  railway  companies  to  the 
contrary.  These  efforts  have,  however,  made  the  tramp  more 
wary,  and  the  means  he  employs  to  obtain  his  ends  are  frequently 
ingenious  and  amusing.  Probably  the  easiest  way  for  the  tramp 
to  steal  a  ride  is  to  board  a  "freight"  at  a  moment  when  the 
trainmen  are  off  their  gua^d,  and  then  to  take  the  chance  of  being 
discovered  after  the  train  is  in  motion.  But  this  is  entirely  too 
democratic  a  mode  of  travel  for  the  self-respecting  tramp.  He 
prefers  a  passenger  train  for  his  conveyance,  and  will  go  to  his 
wits*  end  to  accomplish  his  design.  Some  tramps  ride  on  the 
trucks  beneath  the  cars,  but  this  is  uncomfortable  and  dangerous. 
After  an  accident  which  occurred  to  a  train  which  your  corre- 
spondent took  between  Colorado  and  California,  it  was  found 
that  a  tramp  had  been  secreted  in  the  baggage  car,  which  was 
telescoped  in  the  collision.  He  escaped  with  a  broken  leg.  At 
another  time  a  tramp  boarded  a  train  in  California  just  before 
it  entered  a  tunnel.  When  the  conductor  came  through  for  the 
tickets  the  train  was  already  in  the  tunnel,  and  the  tramp,  upon 
being  asked  for  his  ticket,  replied  that  he  had  been  told  that 
anybody  was  allowed  to  ride  through  the  tunnel  without  charge. 
When  the  conductor  informed  him  this  was  not  the  case,  he 
looked  very  much  surprised,  but  said  that  they  would  surely 
not  put  him  off  the  train  in  the  middle  of  the  tunnel.  "Well," 
said  the  conductor,  "if  I  had  caught  you  a  little  sooner  that  is 
exactly  what  I  would  have  done."  However,  the  tramp  was 
allowed  to  complete  his  ride,  and  as  the  tunnel  was  a  long  one, 
he  was  helped  considerably  on  his  way.  Your  correspondent, 
who  happened  to  witness  the  incident,  asked  one  of  the  train- 
men how  often  the  trick  was  played.  He  replied,  "About  once 
in  two  weeks."  The  railway  on  which  this  occurred  contains  a 
number  of  long  tunnels,  and  is  therefore  especially  adapted  for 
the  method  used  there  by  the  tramp.  In  Shasta  county,  Cali- 
fornia, where  long,  wooden  tunnels  called  snow-sheds  are  built 
to  prevent  the  winter  snows  from  stopping  transportation,  the 

[54] 


practice  of  riding  through  the  tunnels  is  much  more  common, 
and  the  railway  officials  are  afraid  to  put  the  tramps  off  the 
trains,  for  in  revenge  they  would  set  fire  to  the  sheds.  Another 
method  which  the  tramp  has  been  known  to  employ  in  riding  on 
passenger  trains  is  to  secrete  himself  between  the  backs  of  two 
seats  turned  in  opposite  directions.  In  certain  types  of  American 
cars  this  space  is  sufficiently  large  for  a  small  tramp  if  he  is 
skilful  in  condensing  himself.  But  in  any  case  the  chance  of 
detection  is  great.  One  tramp  who  was  riding  thus  was  caught 
by  the  conductor,  and,  after  the  train  was  stopped,  was  thrust 
off.  But  as  the  train  moved  again  a  few  observant  passengers 
noticed  the  fellow  swing  on  to  the  rear  platform  of  the  last  car 
and  resume  his  journey  undaunted. — A.  B.  R. 

Sight-seeing  by  Trolley-cars 

Electric  tramcars — or  trolley-cars,  as  they  are  called  in  the 
United  States — have  had  a  remarkable  history.  A  few  years 
ago  they  were  a  novelty  to  be  found  in  but  few  cities.  Today 
every  city  and  town  of  considerable  size  has  its  trolley  line,  and 
thousands  of  sparsely-settled  communities  as  well  are  thus 
connected  with  each  other  and  with  large  cities.  At  first  the 
trolley-car  was  used  chiefly  for  business  purposes,  but  in  recent 
years  it  has  become  an  important  source  of  recreation  for  people 
in  poor  and  moderate  circumstances.  The  electric  railway 
companies  throughout  the  country  have  developed  this  function 
of  the  trolley-car  by  establishing  on  the  outskirts  of  large  cities 
numerous  parks  with  popular  attractions  of  various  kinds.  These 
parks  are  connected  with  the  cities  by  electric  lines,  and  passen- 
gers are  conveyed  to  and  fro  at  nominal  prices.  In  most  cases 
no  charge  of  admission  is  made  at  the  park,  the  railway  company 
calculating  to  gain  its  profits  from  the  fares  collected  on  the  cars 
and  from  the  receipts  of  the  refreshment-stands  and  other 
"  extras  "  at  the  park.  Another  recent  development  of  the  trolley 
system  is  its  use  by  tourists.  In  at  least  six  cities  of  the  United 
States  observation-cars  are  operated  over  routes  selected  espec- 
ially for  the  tourist.  The  company  which  provides  this  service 
makes  special  arrangements  with  the  existing  railway  companies 
in  the  various  cities  so  that  it  can  run  cars  over  many  more 
interesting  streets  than  any  ordinary  line  is  apt  to  cover.  Each 
observation-car  is  provided  with  a  guide  who,  megaphone  in 
hand,  stands  at  the  forward  end  and  explains  the  points  of 
interest  on  the  route.  The  mileage  covered  in  these  trips  and 
the  price  of  the  tickets  vary  in  different  cities.  In  Denver, 
Colorado,  some  twenty-five  miles  are  traversed,  and  the  charge 
is  twenty-five  cents.  In  Los  Angeles,  California;  Charleston, 
S.  C.;  Washington,  D.  C.;  Boston,  Mass.;  and  Salt  Lake  City, 

[55] 


Utah,  it  is  fifty  cents.  In  winter  closed  cars  are  used,  which  are 
heated  by  electricity.  The  time  required  for  each  trip  is  about 
two  hours. — A.  B.  R. 

The  Chicago  Drainage  Canal 

In  1893  the  City  of  Chicago  was  engaged  in  two  projects 
of  enormous  magnitude.  One  of  these  was  the  World's  Colum- 
bian Exposition,  in  celebration  of  the  four-hundredth  anni- 
versity  of  the  discovery  of  America.  The  other  was  the  Chicago 
drainage  canal,  which  the  city  began  to  dig  the  previous  year, 
1892.  The  great  interest  aroused  by  the  Exposition  eclipsed  for 
a  time  the  interest  taken  in  the  canal,  but  when  the  "Fair" 
became  a  matter  of  history  and  its  buildings  levelled  to  the 
ground,  the  drainage  canal  stands  out  as  an  achievement  no  less 
remarkable  than  the  Columbian  Exposition.  Ever  since  Chicago 
became  a  city  of  size,  its  drainage  problem  has  been  a  difficult 
one.  The  Chicago  River,  a  small,  sluggish  stream  which  empties 
into  Lake  Michigan,  was  early  utilized  to  carry  off  the  sewerage, 
but  as  the  city  grew  in  population,  the  pollution  of  the  water 
became  offensive.  Before  the  completion  of  the  drainage  canal, 
it  was  so  bad  that  boats  pushing  through  the  putrid  river  con- 
tinually stirred  up  foul  odors,  and  epidemics  were  frequent. 
Chicago's  drinking-water  was  also  affected.  The  mouths  of 
the  intaking  pipes,  drawing  water  from  Lake  Michigan,  were 
found  to  be  too  near  the  outlet  of  the  river,  and  intake  tunnels 
three  and  four  miles  long  had  to  be  constructed  to  prevent  con- 
tamination. The  Chicago  drainage  canal,  which  was  completed 
in  1900  at  a  cost  of  $33,000,000  (£6,600,000),  has  relieved  the 
congested  condition  of  the  Chicago  River  by  making  it  flow 
backward,  thus  freeing  the  water-supply  from  danger  of  con- 
tamination. Instead  of  receiving  the  waters  of  the  Chicago 
River,  Lake  Michigan  is  now  made  the  source  of  the  river, 
supplying  every  minute  thousands  of  cubic  feet  of  water,  which 
are  carried  through  the  Chicago  River  into  the  canal  and  thence 
to  the  Des  Plaines,  Illinois  and  Mississippi  rivers.  It  will  be 
seen,  therefore,  that  the  canal  connects  the  Chicago  and  Des 
Plaines  rivers,  running  a  distance  of  28J^  miles.  Though  not 
the  longest,  it  is  said  to  be  the  largest  purely  artificial  canal  in 
the  world.  About  two-thirds  of  its  length  it  is  cut  through  solid 
limestone,  the  remaining  distance  being  through  gravel.  A 
minimum  width  of  160  feet  is  maintained  through  the  rock-cut 
portion,  while  the  rest  of  the  canal  is  much  wider.  The  depth  of 
the  canal  ranges  from  22  to  30  feet.  At  Lockport,  where  the 
canal  empties  into  the  Des  Plaines  River,  a  large  dam  has  been 
constructed,  whose  gates,  operated  by  hydraulic  pressure, 
remove  water  simultaneously  from  the  surface  and  bottom  of 

[56] 


the  canal.  In  this  way  all  accumulation  of  putrid  matter  which 
might  otherwise  form  at  the  gates  is  avoided.  The  speed  of  the 
current  in  the  canal,  and  consequently  in  the  Chicago  River,  is 
also  regulated  by  these  gates.  A  telephone  line  connects  Chicago 
with  the  dam  at  Lockport,  so  that  the  volume  of  water  flowing 
out  of  the  canal  may  be  reduced  or  increased  immediately  upon 
order  of  the  city. 

The  gates  of  the  dam  allowed  about  250,000  cubic  feet  of 
water  to  flow  from  the  canal,  but  provision  is  made  for  a  maxi- 
mum of  600,000  feet  per  minute.  The  additional  volume  of 
water  which  was  poured  into  the  Des  Plaines  River  by  the  drain- 
age canal  necessitated  much  reinforcement  along  the  banks  of 
that  stream,  and  while  the  v/ork  was  being  carried  out,  the  river 
had  to  be  diverted  from  its  course  for  thirteen  miles.  Before 
its  completion  two  serious  objections  were  raised  to  the  drainage 
canal.  It  was  said,  on  one  hand,  that  withdrawing  so  much  water 
from  Lake  Michigan  as  the  canal  projectors  contemplated  would 
lower  the  level  of  that  body  of  water  so  much  that  the  harbors 
of  all  the  towns  on  its  shores  would  be  ruined.  On  the  other 
hand,  St.  Louis,  a  city  on  the  Mississippi,  about  375  miles  below 
Chicago,  objected  that  the  sewerage  from  the  drainage  canal 
would  make  her  water-supply  utterly  useless.  Neither  of  these 
objections  seems  to  have  been  sustained  by  the  actual  results. 
The  level  of  Lake  Michigan  is,  for  all  practical  purposes,  the 
same  as  before,  while  the  water  of  St.  Louis  appears  not  to  have 
suffered  from  Chicago's  sewerage,  since  the  rivers  have  ample 
opportunity  to  clear  themselves  in  the  distance  between  the 
cities.— A.  B.  R. 

The  Passing  of  the  American  Cow-boy 

The  typical  American  cow-boy  is  rapidly  passing  away. 
Many  of  the  western  plains  of  the  United  States  which  years 
ago,  were  dotted  with  the  picturesque  figures  of  the  cow-boys 
are  now  fenced  in  the  manner  of  eastern  farms,  and  the  tourist 
who  travels  over  the  continent  in  a  through  train  is  fortunate  if 
he  catches  a  close  view  of  a  single  group  of  real  cow-boys  "of 
the  old  school."  This  change  is  to  be  attributed  to  several 
factors,  among  the  chief  of  which  are  the  replacement  of  public 
by  private  ownership  of  land  and  the  introduction  of  the  wire 
fence.  Western  ranch  lands  have  passed,  or  are  passing,  through 
three  distinct  stages.  In  the  first  of  these  the  land  is  owned  by 
the  Government,  and  the  cattle-men  graze  their  stock  along  with 
the  cattle  of  their  neighbours  on  the  public  land.  Under  such 
conditions  the  old-fashioned  cow-boy  was  a  necessity,  and  con- 
sequently flourished.  It  was  his  business  to  look  after  his 
master's  cattle  wherever  they  might  be  on  the  "range  lands," 

[S7l 


and  at  the  "round-up"  to  "cut  out"  from  the  common  herd  all 
cattle  bearing  his  master's  brand.  In  the  second  stage  through 
which  ranch  lands  pass,  an  individual  buys  his  own  grazing 
territory  and  prohibits  his  neighbor's  cattle  from  encroaching 
on  his  boundaries.  Here  again  cow-boys  are  necessary  to  patrol 
the  boundaries,  prevent  stampedes,  etc.  Finally,  the  individual 
owners  fence  their  lands,  a  procedure  made  possible  by  the 
invention  and  introduction  of  barb-wire.  In  this  stage  the 
function  of  the  cow-boy  is  reduced  to  that  of  any  farm  hand,  and 
the  ranch  itself  is  managed  in  about  the  same  way  as  a  stock 
farm  of  the  east.  All  western  land  has  not  yet  passed  through 
this  evolution,  and  lands  in  the  first,  second  and  third  stages  may 
be  found  in  the  same  state.  Ultimately,  however,  all  ranch  land 
will  be  fenced,  and  the  cow-boy  will  become  a  farm  hand. — 
A.  B.  R. 

The  £cUege  Girl  and  Matrimony 

There  are  many  debates  which,  though  failing  of  final 
settlement,  are  nevertheless  quite  valuable  in  that  they  reveal 
interesting  and  out-of-the-way  facts.  A  discussion  in  the 
American  press  on  the  value  of  higher  education  for  the  house- 
wife is  a  case  in  point.  A  certain  professor  of  a  western  uni- 
versity declared  vigorously  that  the  college-bred  girl  was  wholly 
worthless  as  a  domestic  wife,  while  women  of  position  in  educa- 
tional circles  no  less  strenuously  differed.  Probably  neither  side 
converted  the  other,  but  the  discussion  was  the  means  of  bring- 
ing to  light  certain  statistics  which  cannot  fail  to  be  of  interest. 
These  give  21.9  as  the  percentage  of  college  girls  who,  after 
graduation,  have  married. 

Eighty  per  cent,  of  our  women,  it  is  said,  marry  and  have 
children,  so  that  when  we  find  that  only  21.9  per  cent,  of  the 
graduates  of  fifteen  typical  girls'  colleges  have  married  we  may 
not  agree  with  the  professor  that  higher  education  unfits  the 
girl  for  wifedom,  but  we  must  confess  that  it  lessens  her 
chances  of  matrimony.  The  reasons  for  this  fact  are  probably 
many.  One  of  the  most  evident  is  that  a  large  number  of  the 
girls  who  go  to  college  at  the  earliest  stage  of  their  career,  choose 
teaching  as  their  profession,  and  practically  discard  all  thoughts 
of  matrimony.  Other  girls,  who  at  the  beginning  of  their  courses 
have  not  yet  decided  to  teach,  become  fascinated  with  their 
work  and  soon  assume  the  same  attitude.  The  college-bred 
girl  is  again  liable  to  celibacy  because  what  are  probably  her 
most  attractive  years,  physically,  are  spent  in  comparative 
isolation  from  the  opposite  sex.  In  co-educational  institutions, 
it  is  true  that  this  condition  does  not  exist,  but  in  all  distinc- 
tively girls'  colleges  male  visitors  are  carefully  scrutinized  or 
excluded.  This  confines  their  companionship  with  men  to  the 

[58] 


summer  season,  which  is  generally  far  too  short  to  permit  of 
friendship  ripening  to  love  and  marriage.  What  will  be  the 
remedy  for  this  condition — if  indeed  it  needs  a  remedy — is 
difficult  to  say.  Co-education  is  a  comparatively  new  feature  in 
American  education,  and  may  in  time  change  matters.  In  many 
colleges  its  introduction  is  fought  by  the  male  students,  and  in 
one  prominent  institution  it  has  been  entirely  abandoned,  but 
to  predict  what  its  general  success  or  failure  will  be  is  as  yet 
premature. — A.  B.  R. 

Dining  Facilities  on  American  Railways 

The  tourist  who  travels  across  the  American  continent  in 
a  fast  through  train  on  one  of  the  several  railway  lines  connect- 
ing the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  will  find  that  the  provision 
made  for  his  three  daily  meals  is  a  matter  of  clockwork  regu- 
larity and  uniformity.  A  dining-car  will  accompany  his  train, 
and  he  will  merely  have  to  walk  from  his  own  Pullman  car  into 
the  "diner"  to  obtain  table  d'hote  or  a  la  carte  meals  as  the  par- 
ticular railway  he  is  patronizing  may  furnish.  But  let  the  tourist 
go  across  the  country  by  less-frequented  lines  and  on  slower 
trains,  and  he  will  find  that  provisions  for  his  meals  become  not 
only  less  regular,  but  also  more  varied  in  character.  He  will 
find  some  of  these  variations  annoying,  others  ludicrous,  but 
all  interesting.  First  of  all,  in  addition  to  the  regular  dining-cars 
are  the  "buffet  cars,"  only  a  part  of  whose  spaces  are  devoted  to 
dining  facilities,  the  rest  being  occupied  by  accommodations  for 
passengers.  Then  there  are  the  so-called  "tourists'  cars," 
which  are  primarily  sleeping-cars,  but  which  contain  small 
stoves  upon  which  women  passengers  may  themselves  do  cook- 
ing. These  have  been  found  especially  acceptable  to  families  of 
the  middle  classes,  who  before  starting  a  journey  pack  cooked 
lunches  which  they  take  with  them  and  warm  upon  the  stoves 
provided  in  the  "tourists'  cars."  No  charge  is  made  for  the 
use  of  the  stoves;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  a  part  of  the  duty  of  the 
Pullman  porter  to  attend  to  the  stove  and  to  provide  small 
dining-tables,  which  may  be  set  up  between  two  seats  when  meal- 
time arrives.  Another  method  of  providing  meals  is  used  on 
a  certain  Wisconsin  railway,  and  is  ingenious  to  say  the  least. 
When  a  train  upon  that  line  reaches  a  town  about  meal-time, 
wicker  baskets,  each  of  which  contain  a  hot  meal,  are  thrown  on 
the  train  and  sold  to  the  passengers  at  twenty-five  cents  (one 
shilling)  each.  For  this  price  the  passenger  finds  in  his  basket  a 
plate  of  hot  roast  beef,  two  or  three  vegetables,  a  small  bottle  of 
hot  coffee  and  a  generous  slice  of  pie.  Of  course  knives,  forks, 
and  spoons  accompany  the  victuals,  and  the  tourist  may  take 
his  time  to  eat,  for  the  baskets  are  not  returned  to  the  station  at 

[591 


which  they  were  put  on  the  train,  but  to  a  stopping-place  thirty 
or  forty  miles  away.  Here  the  empty  baskets  are  doubtless 
refilled,  and  trains  going  in  the  opposite  direction  are  supplied 
with  them,  so  that  a  continual  and  balancing  interchange  of 
baskets  and  dishes  results.  But  on  many  railways  the  tourist 
cannot  obtain  meals  on  the  train.  The  old  methods  of  the  stage- 
coach have  left  their  traces  in  an  elaborate  system  of  railway 
restaurants  and  lunch  counters.  On  some  roads  this  system  has 
been  perfected  to  a  degree  that  rivals  the  best  dining-cars,  while 
on  others  it  is  so  bad  that  one  must  despair  of  obtaining  a  whole- 
some morsel  of  food  until  another  railway  is  reached  or  the 
journey  ended.  When  well  conducted,  this  system  has  the  advan- 
tage of  allowing  the  passenger  to  break  his  journey  three  times 
a  day,  and  to  eat  his  meals  on  terra  firma  instead  of  in  a  rocking 
car  that  may  spill  his  soup  or  upset  his  coffee.  On  the  other 
hand,  at  its  best  the  system  can  allow  the  passenger  but  a  short 
time — about  tw£*»ty  minutes — for  each  meal,  and  however 
prompt  the  service  may  be,  a  feeling  of  haste  is  unavoidably 
created  in  the  passenger.  At  lunch  counters  time  is  sometimes 
saved,  but  a  substantial  meal  can  rarely  be  obtained.  As  regards 
cost,  the  station  restaurant  is  generally  less  expensive  than  the 
dining-car,  since  the  cost  of  maintaining  a  restaurant  on  wheels 
is  greater  than  in  the  case  of  a  stationary  eating-house.  A  good 
meal  may  be  obtained  at  most  station  restaurants  for  about 
seventy-five  cents  (three  shillings),  while  few  dining-car  meals 
can  be  had  for  less  than  one  dollar  (four  shillings). — A.  B.  R. 

A  Negro  University 

The  oldest  educational  institution  for  negroes  in  the  United 
States  is  located,  not  as  might  be  supposed  in  one  of  the  southern 
states,  but  in  Pennsylvania,  a  state  lying  north  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line,  which  for  so  many  years  marked  the  boundary 
between  slave  and  free  states.  Founded  in  1856  as  a  negro 
institute  by  a  clergyman  of  Oxford,  Pa.,  the  institution  has 
flourished  for  nearly  fifty  years,  although  its  name  was  changed 
several  years  ago  to  "Lincoln  University."  It  is  situated  about 
fifty  miles  south  of  Philadelphia,  at  a  railway  station  which  takes 
its  name  from  the  university.  At  present  about  200  students  are 
enrolled  in  the  institution,  150  being  in  the  college  department 
and  about  50  in  the  theological  school.  The  course  for  the  college 
requires  four  years,  while  the  theological  training  may  be  com- 
pleted in  three  years.  Commencements  are  held  annually  for 
the  two  departments,  the  theological  commencement  occurring 
in  April,  so  that  the  graduates  may  have  ample  time  to  secure 
charges  for  the  coming  season  among  the  churches.  From  an 
educational  standpoint  Lincoln  University  has  been  most  success- 

[60] 


ful.  At  the  last  commencement  of  the  theological  department 
which  your  correspondent  attended,  sixteen  negro  students 
graduated,  five  of  whom  delivered  addresses,  which  for  vigor 
of  thought  and  earnestness  of  presentation  fairly  rivalled  the 
productions  of  the  graduates  of  our  seminaries  for  white  students. 
Indeed,  one  of  the  trustees  of  Princeton  University  admitted  that 
he  had  not  heard  better  addresses  at  Princeton  Seminary  than  he 
heard  at  Lincoln.  The  greatest  difficulty  with  which  Lincoln 
University  has  to  contend  is  the  poverty  of  the  colored  race. 
Slavery  left  the  negroes  desperately  poor,  and  few  of  them  have 
sufficiently  recovered  to  be  able  to  pay  for  the  tuition  required 
for  a  college  course.  Exclusive  of  clothes  it  costs  $130  (£26)  per 
annum  to  support  a  student  at  Lincoln  University.  Aid  is  given 
the  men  in  every  way  possible,  such  a?  securing  for  them  positions 
as  waiters,  porters,  and  messengers  in  hotels  during  the  summer 
vacations,  etc.  Certain  scholarships  also  are  open  to  competition, 
and  various  prizes  are  offered  for  high  scholarship.  The  negroes 
enjoy  their  college  life  quite  as  much  as  their  white  brethren,  and 
have  such  organizations  as  a  college  orchestra,  glee  club,  banjo 
club,  debating  society,  baseball  and  football  teams,  etc.  The 
alumni  of  the  university  have  with  very  few  exceptions  made 
creditable  records  for  their  alma  mater  in  various  industrial  and 
professional  pursuits.  They  have  materially  aided  in  transform- 
ing an  ignorant,  superstitious,  and  hypocritical  negro  ministry 
in  the  south  into  trained,  intelligent  and  sincere  workers.  They 
have  added  to  the  material  prosperity  of  their  people  by  their 
success  at  the  work-bench  and  on  the  land.  They  have  proved 
their  intellectual  powers  by  their  management  of  commercial 
houses,  factories,  and  banks.  Most  of  all,  by  the  elevating 
influence  on  their  fellow-men  they  have  clearly  pointed  the  way 
to  the  solution  of  the  great  race  problem  of  America. — A.  B.  R. 


The  Tannhauser  Legends 

High  up  upon  a  bald  and  desolate  mountain  of  the  Horsel- 
berg  range,  there  opens  a  gloomy  cavern,  called  the  Horselloch, 
from  the  depths  of  which  issues  forth  a  low  tumultous  rumble,  as 
of  a  distant  storm.  Riding  through  the  region  many  years  ago, 
Tannhauser,  a  knight  and  famous  minnesinger,  was  attracted  to 
the  wierd  cavern  by  the  vision  of  a  beautiful  figure  of  a  female. 
Dusk  was  at  hand,  but  he  could  recognize  the  superhuman  form 
as  Venus.  As  she  beckoned  him  to  come  to  her,  dulcet  strains  of 
music  floated  through  the  air,  and  he  followed  the  retreating 
queen  to  he*  subterranean  palace.  For  seven  years  he  remained 
with  her,  indulging  in  all  the  sensual  pleasures  and  debauch  her 
palace  could  afford,  but  at  length  his  conscience  rebelled  against 
this  state,  and  he  longed  to  be  restored  to  God.  In  vain  he  begged 
the  pagan  queen  to  permit  him  to  depart,  and  not  until  he  called 
upon  the  Virgin  Mary  was  he  released  from  the  heathen  power. 
Then  in  sorrow  for  his  wicked  life  at  the  Horselloch,  he  joined  a 
pilgrim  band  on  its  way  to  Rome  to  seek  pardon  of  the  Pope. 
But  Urban  IV  beared  Tannhauser's  story  with  a  stern  face,  and 
cast  him  off,  crying  "This  staff"  in  my  hand  shall  grow  green  and 
blossom,  ere  grace  to  thee  be  shown."  So,  downcast,  and  full  of 
despair,  his  last  hope  of  reformation  blighted,  Tannhauser 
turned  back  to  "the  only  asylum  open  to  him,  the  Venusberg." 
But  he  had  hardly  disappeared,  when  lo!  the  withered  staff  of  the 
Pope  began  to  bud  and  bloom.  Amazed  and  repentant,  Urban 
sent  for  the  unfortunate  Tannhauser,  but  his  messengers  arrived 
too  late,  for  as  they  approached  the  Venusberg  they  were  told 
that  a  worn  and  haggard  man  had  just  descended  the  cave.  From 
that  day  to  this  Tannhauser  has  not  been  seen. 

Such  then,  in  brief,  is  the  story  of  Tannhauser  in  its  crys- 
talized  German  form.  But  Germany  is  by  no  means  the  only 
country  that  can  boast  of  a  Tannhauser  myth.  Philologists  tell 
us  that  certain  primitive  word-roots  may  be  traced  in  all  lan- 
guages. Similarly  the  mythologist  can  say  that  "every  popular 
tale  has  its  root,  a  root  which  may  be  traced  among  different 
countries,  and  though  the  incidents  of  the  story  may  differ,  yet 
the  substance  remains  unaltered."  As  Mr.  Baring-Gould  says 
"the  common  people  never  invent  new  story-radicals  any  more 
than  we  invent  new  word-roots.  The  same  story-root  remains, 
but  it  is  varied  according  to  the  temperament  of  the  narrator  or 
the  exigencies  of  localization."  It  is  interesting  to  note  further 

[62] 


in  considering  the  origin  of  language  and  myth,  that  while  primi- 
tive language  arose  from  the  imitation  of  nature's  sounds,  primi- 
tive myths  arose  from  an  imitation  of  nature's  phenomena. 

The  story-root  of  the  Tannhauser  myth  is  this:  A  man  is 
enticed  to  the  abode  of  an  underground  folk,  "where  he  unites 
with  a  woman  of  the  underground  race.  He  desires  to  revisit 
the  earth,  and  escapes.  He  returns  again  to  the  region  below." 
Now,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  myths  based  upon  this  simple 
root  are  to  be  found  in  nearly  every  language  that  has  a  folk-lore. 
It  is  represented  in  every  member  of  the  Indo-European  family, 
exists  in  tangible  form  in  Norwegian,  Danish,  Swedish,  Ice- 
landic, Scotch,  Welsh,  Modern  Greek  and  many  others. 

To  determine  the  phenomenon  of  nature  which  the  Tann- 
hauser myth  imitates  or  represents  is  a  matter  of  mere  specula- 
tion, and  we  must  seek  a  primitive  form  of  the  legend  on  which 
we  may  venture  a  guess.  To  the  Greeks  the  phenomena  of  nature 
appealed  most  strongly.  They  observed  with  great  interest 
every  change  in  the  external  world,  and  what  impressed  them 
most  was  the  constant  cycle  of  life  and  apparent  death  as  dis- 
played by  nature.  They  observed  that  the  flowers  and  herbs  had 
their  periods  of  manifest  growth  and  life  ever  followed  by  periods 
of  disappearance  for  a  time  from  the  visible  world,  and  this  cycle 
of  nature  soon  found  representation  in  the  Greek  myths.  It  is 
a  thought  readily  conceived  in  an  imaginative  mind  that  the 
luxuriant  leaves  of  the  trees,  and  the  delicate  blossoms  of  the 
flowers  are,  as  autumn  comes  on,  seduced  by  an  enticing  mistress 
to  join  her  underground  abode,  and  that  in  spring,  released  from 
her  power,  they  rise  up  with  exulting  joy  in  their  freedom.  Such 
a  thought,  we  venf:re  to  suggest,  lay  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Ulysses  and  Circe  myth,  the  classical  parallel  of  the  Tannhauser 
story.  Like  the  phenomena  of  nature,  Ulysses  has  his  periods 
of  disappearance  followed  by  periods  of  restoration  to  the  world. 
For  eight  years  he  is  held  captive  by  the  nymph  Calypso  in  the 
Island  of  Ogygia,  and  again,  after  a  release,  he  is  subject  to  the 
enchantress  Circe  for  a  year. 

The  Tannhauser  myth  is,  we  said,  a  universal  one,  but  only 
a  few  of  its  forms  as  found  in  various  countries  can  here  be 
mentioned.  In  Scotland  the  story  of  Thomas  of  Ercildowne  is 
the  same  story.  Thomas  is  enticed  by  an  elfin  lady  to  an  under- 
ground realm  where  he  remains  seven  years  with  her.  He  comes 
back  to  earth,  but  is  bound  to  return  to  his  lady  at  her  summons. 
So  when  it  is  announced  to  Thomas,  as  he  revels  with  his  friends, 
that  a  hart  and  hind  have  left  the  forest,  he  instantly  follows  the 
animals  to  the  woods,  and  never  returns. 

"There  is  a  Norse  Thattr  of  a  certain  Helgi  Thorir's  son, 
which  is,  in  its  present  form,  a  production  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  Helgi  and  his  brother  Thorstein  went  on  a  cruise  to 

[63] 


Finmark,  or  Lapland.  They  reached  a  ness,  and  found  the  land 
covered  with  forest.  Helgi  explored  the  forest,  and  lighted 
suddenly  on  a  party  of  red-dressed  women  riding  upon  red  horses. 
These  ladies  were  beautiful  and  of  troll  race.  One  surpassed  the 
others  in  beauty,  and  she  was  their  mistress.  They  erected  a 
tent  and  prepared  a  feast.  *  *  *  The  lady,  who  named  her- 
self Ingibjorb,  advanced  towards  the  Norseman,  and  invited  him 
to  live  with  her.  He  feasted  and  lived  with  the  trolls  for  three 
days  and  then  returned  to  his  ships,  bringing  with  him  two  chests 
of  silver  and  gold,  which  Ingibjorg  had  given  him.  He  had  been 
forbidden  to  mention  where  he  had  been  and  with  whom  so  he 
told  no  one  whence  he  had  obtained  the  chests.  The  ships  sailed, 
and  he  returned  home.  One  winter's  night  Helgi  was  fetched 
away  from  home,  by  two  mysterious  horsemen,  and  no  one  was 
able  to  ascertain  for  many  years  what  had  become  of  him,  till 
the  prayers  of  the  Jting,  Olaf,  obtained  his  release,  and  then  he 
was  restored  to  his  father  and  brother,  but  he  was  thenceforth 
blind.  All  the  time  of  his  absence  he  had  been  with  the  red- 
vested  lady  in  her  mysterious  abode  of  Gloesisveller." 

Sweden  offers  yet  another  variation  of  the  remarkable  myth. 
A  young  man  while  on  his  way  to  his  bride  was  enticed  to  a 
mountain  abode  by  a  beautiful  elfin-queen.  Forty  years  with 
her  passes  as  an  hour,  and  upon  returning  to  earth  he  found  like 
old  Rip  Van  Winkle  that  all  his  friends  and  relatives  had  died 
or  had  forgotten  him,  and  so  he  returned  to  his  elf-queen's 
land.  In  Pomerania  a  similar  story  is  told  of  Jacob  Dietrich,  a 
laborer's  son. 

Catalonia  also  boasts  its  Venusberg,  and  in  its  version  of 
the  myth  displays  a  curious  variation  of  the  general  form  by 
making  the  seduced  person  in  the  story  a  woman,  while  the 
enticing  demons  are  men.  But  perhaps  the  Catalonian  women 
are  responsible  for  the  change. 

Only  one  more  of  these  curious  mediaeval  variations  can 
be  mentioned  before  passing  on  to  consider  two  modern  poetical 
versions  of  the  Tannhauser  myth.  Connla,  the  son  of  Ireland's 
old  king,  climbed  with  his  father  to  the  top  of  Ursnech.  Suddenly 
a  damsel  of  great  beauty  approached  the  young  prince.  She 
loved  Connla,  and  invited  him  to  the  Plain  of  Delight  where 
dwells  King  Boadag,  and  where  there  is  no  death  or  sin  or  trans- 
gression. The  maiden  was  invisible  to  the  old  King,  but  hearing 
her  enticing  voice,  and  fearful  for  his  son,  he  besought  Druid  to 
chant  against  her.  "Come  with  me"  she  cried  "Connla  of  the 
ruddy  hair,  of  the  speckled  neck,  flame  red,  a  yellow  crown 
awaits  thee,  thy  figure  shall  not  wither  nor  its  youth  or  beauty 
until  the  dreadful  Judgment."  But  Druid's  chantings  drove 
away  the  maiden,  yet  not  before  she  had  given  Connla  a  magical 
apple.  For  a  month  the  woman  was  absent,  but  during  all  that 

[64] 


time  the  prince  lived  upon  the  apple  she  had  given  him,  which 
proved  as  lasting  as  the  widow's  barrel  of  meal.  But  finally  she 
returned.  Again  she  invited  him,  and  again  Druid  was  sought 
and  his  magical  chants.  But  the  charm  was  over,  and  Connla 
bounding  into  a  ship  of  glass  disappeared  forever  with  the 
wonderful  woman. 

With  the  modern  artist  it  is  but  natural  that  the  rude  and 
plastic  myth  of  Tannhauser  has  found  great  favor.  Its  simple 
theme  admits  of  endless  variations.  Sung  by  the  hopeful 
moralist,  it  tells  of  the  limitless  mercy  of  God  as  compared  with 
the  cruel  judgments  of  man;  transposed  to  the  minor  key  of  the 
pessimist's  harp  it  sings  of  the  terrible  end  of  all  things  earthly; 
while  tuned  to  the  pipe  of  the  Epicurean,  it  urges  us  to  "eat, 
drink  and  be  merry,  for  tomorrow  we  die." 

"The  Hill  of  Venus"  by  Mr.  Wm.  Morris  is  the  first  of  the 
modern  poetical  versions  to  consider.  This  is  one  of  the  poet's 
earlier  poems  and  forms  a  portion  of  that  extensive  collection — 
"The  Earthly  Paradise."  Probably  the  first  quality  one  notices 
in  reading  at  random  from  this  collection  of  myths  is  its  uniform 
harmony  and  smoothness.  Certain  it  is  at  any  rate  that  this 
quality  is  an  everpresent  one  in  "The  Hill  of  Venus."  Select 
any  stanza  from  the  poem,  and  the  same  melody  will  be  found 
as  in  the  following  opening  verses: 

•         "A  certain  summer  afternoon  day  hung 

Doubtful  'twixt  storm  and  sunshine,  and  the  earth 
Seemed  waiting  for  the  clouds  to  spread,  that  clung 
About  the  south-east,  ere  its  narrowing  mirth, 
Ere  all  the  freXmess  of  its  hopeful  birth, 
Should  end  in  dreadful  darkness,  and  the  clash 
Of  rain-beat  boughs  and  wildering  lightning  flash." 

But  the  poet  who  has  ever  ready  a  melodious  verse  has 
seldom  more  than  that.  He  has  no  philosophy,  no  interest  in 
the  inner  and  deeper  problems  of  life  that  stir  men's  souls.  He 
is  a  poet  of  the  surface,  and  this  to  a  certain  extent  is  true  of 
Mr.  Morris.  As  he  himself  says,  he  is  the  "  idle  singer  of  an  empty 
day,"  and  his  only  purpose  in  putting  ancient  and  mediaeval 
ballads  in  poetical  form  is  to  please.  But  this  we  may  say  is  the 
result  of  the  life  of  the  poet.  Mr.  Morris  was  first  of  all  a  printer. 
Poetry  was  to  him  his  recreation,  and  it  was  only  after  he  had 
lived  a  busy  day  in  his  city  office  that  he  retired  at  night  to  his 
lonely  study  to  invoke  the  poetic  Muse.  At  such  a  time  it  is 
natural  that  Mr.  Morris  turns  away  from  the  deep  broodings  of 
the  preceding  hours  and  becomes  the  "idle  poet  of  an  empty 
day."  "The  Hill  of  Venus"  then  contains  no  allegory;  its  Tann- 
hauser (Walter)  is  wholly  wanting  the  symbolism  of  Tennyson's 
"Arthur,"  of  Shelly's  "Prometheus;"  and  not  even  the  original 

[65  1 


German  ballad's  representation  of  the  strife  between  paganism 
and  Christianity  is  preserved  in  the  "Hill  of  Venus."  Being 
such  an  "idle  singer"  as  we  have  shown  Mr.  Morris  to  be,  it 
is  natural  that  he  presents  love  to  us  wholly  in  its  physical  and 
passionate  elements.  There  is  nothing  divine  in  it;  nothing 
intellectual.  In  the  denouement  of  his  ballad,  however,  it  seems 
that  he  has  surpassed  his  predecessors  and  contemporaries. 
The  old  pagan  form  of  the  Tannhauser  ballad,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, after  telling  of  the  Pope's  refusal  to  pardon  Tannhauser, 
unhesitatingly  commits  his  soul  to  the  bottomless  pit.  These 
are  the  lines: 

"But  he  [Tannhauser]  hath  sought  the  Venusberg, 

Hath  chosen  his  love  for  aye — 
And  Pope  Urban's  soul  shall  be  counted  lost 

Cometh  the  Judgment  Day!" 

A  higher  conception  of  the  Pope's  fate  was  expressed  in  the 
later  Christian  versions,  which  although  representing  Urban's 
last  days  to  be  of  bitter  sorrow  because  his  infallability  is  called 
in  question  by  God,  yet  finally  land  him  on  the  happy  side  of 
the  Styx.  But  the  still  higher  conception  of  the  Pope's  character 
belongs  to  Mr.  Morris,  who  not  only  saves  the  Pope  but  has  him 
die  in  the  feeling  of  great  joy,  that  God's  mercy  exceeds  man's. 
In  his  version  no  selfish  displeasure  is  aroused  in  the  holy  man's 
soul  at  the  miraculous  growth  of  the  withered  staff. 

Mr.  John  Davidson's  New  Ballad  of  Tannhauser  is  in  many 
respects  similar  to  "The  Hill  of  Venus."  Though  of  much  less 
length  its  purpose,  like  Morris's  poem,  is  to  present  a  simple 
myth  without  reflections,  without  philosophy.  His  purpose 
indeed  in  writing  the  poem  is  best  expressed  in  his  own  words, 
when  he  says,  "I  have  endeavored  to  present  passion  rather  than 
sentiment,  and  once  more  to  bear  a  hand  in  laying  the  ghost  of 
an  unwholesome  idea  that  still  haunts  the  world — the  idea  of 
the  inherent  impurity  of  nature."  Now,  that  Mr.  Davidson  has 
succeeded  in  presenting  passion  rather  than  sentiment  is  quite 
evident  in  his  ballad,  but  that  he  has  succeeded  in  "laying  the 
ghost"  we  feel  inclined  to  deny.  The  old  Tannhauser  ballad  is 
essentially  a  poem  with  a  moral.  It  contrasts  as  we  have  said, 
the  limitless  mercy  of  God  with  the  narrow  judgments  of  man. 
But  in  Mr.  Davidson  this  element  is  wholly  wanting.  True,  it 
may  be  said,  that  the  highest  poetry  is  exempt  from  moralizing, 
and  for  this  reason  we  have  passed  by  Mr.  Morris  without  con- 
demning him.  But  Mr.  Davidson's  ballad  goes  further.  He  does 
not,  like  Mr.  Morris,  exclude  the  good  moral  of  the  Christian 
myth,  but  rather  replaces  the  good  moral  by  a  bad  one.  Tann- 
hauser in  the  old  legend  is  forgiven  by  an  all  merciful  God  what 
is  unpardonable  among  men.  It  is  in  fact  a  miracle  of  miracles. 

[66] 


But  as  some  one  says  "Mr.  Davidson  transforms  it  into  a  mys- 
tery of  iniquity — he  reads  it  as  a  license  to  Tannhauser  to  return 
to  his  sin.  In  such  a  case  the  whole  machinery  of  the  ballad  is 
out  of  gear  with  its  new  intention."  That  Mr.  Davidson  has 
an  elementary  and  irresistible  sweetness  in  his  ballads  is  unde- 
niable, but  so  much  the  more  dangerous  does  he  become  when 
this  sweetness  sings  of  a  rotten  morality.  One  eulogist  says  of 
him  that  "he  is  a  born  singer  and  carries  you  off  your  legs  with 
his  magnificent  stanzas."  We  admit  it,  but  the  trouble  is  he 
never  gives  you  your  legs  back  again,  and  when  you  have  once 
awakened  in  the  world  he  has  created  for  you,  you  will  find  speedy 
use  for  them.  His  stanzas  run  through  your  mind  long  after 
you  have  read  them,  but  they  are  Lanzas  of  passion.  In  "The 
Ballad  of  a  Nun"  Mr.  Davidson  displays  a  similar  quality,  and 
indeed  in  many  of  his  songs,  but  when  we  consider  that  as  a  poet 
he  has  only  been  before  the  world  a  dozen  years  or  more,  we  may 
hope  that  yet  the  moralist  may  get  the  better  of  the  man.  When 
a  harmonious  combination  of  sound  morality  and  unquestioned 
poetic  ability  shall  be  combined  in  Mr.  Davidson,  we  may  expect 
"A  *  Newer'  Ballad  of  Tannhauser,"  that  will  indeed  be  won- 
derful. 

ALFRED  BELDEN  RICE, 

March  3,  1899. 


[67] 


Hiram  Porter  McGinniss 

There  rises  above  the  southern  waters  of  Lake  Champlain, 
on  its  western  shore,  one  of  the  smaller  mountains  of  the  Adiron- 
dack range.  Resting  at  the  foot  of  this  mountain,  and  hidden 
by  clustering  groves  of  sugar  maples,  lies  the  little  historic  village 
of  Crown  Point.  In  this  interesting  town,  it  was  my  privilege 
to  spend  several  weeks  of  a  beautiful  summer,  investigating  old 
ruined  forts  of  the  Revolution,  visiting  monuments  of  the  famous 
dead,  and,  in  short,  reading  all  my  colonial  history  over  again 
from  the  book  of  nature  itself. 

It  was  on  one  of  the  first  of  these  historic  rambles,  that  we 
heard  of  the  illustrious  name  and  fame  of  Hiram  Porter  Mc- 
Ginniss, the  sole  occupant  of  the  overhanging  mountain.  Wish- 
ing to  know  more  of  a  personage  bearing  such  a  distinguished 
appellation,  our  party  chose  the  next  pleasant  day  to  ascend  the 
steep,  and  visit  the  great  man  on  his  native  heath.  We  made  an 
early  start  that  fine  morning,  and  the  cool  air  of  dawn  stimulated 
us  tc  a  quick  pace.  The  rising  road  before  us,  spotted  with  the 
delicate  light  of  the  morning  sun,  presented  a  beautiful  scene, 
and  the  sparkling  dew  on  the  verdant  trees  had  not  yet  been 
driven  away  by  the  sun,  as  a  ball  of  fire  rising  in  the  east.  We 
had  walked  some  three  hours  amid  this  paradise  of  nature,  when 
there  suddenly  rose  across  our  way,  as  the  signboard  told  us,  the 
narrow  wooden  gate  of  "Cold  Spring  and  Grand  View  Park." 
We  had  waited  but  a  short  time  after  knocking  on  the  old  gate- 
way, when  there  came  to  meet  us  the  king  of  the  country  himself, 
Hiram  Porter  McGinniss. 

There  was  no  difficulty  in  seeing  him,  even  long  before  his 
arrival,  for  he  was  a  man  of  enormous  stature,  a  veritable  son 
of  the  children  of  Anak.  As  if  still  not  satisfied  with  his  giant 
height,  there  was  mounted  upon  his  head  a  weather-worn  high 
silk  hat,  such  as  our  village  politicians  are  wont  to  wear.  He 
wore  a  black  threadbare  Prince  Albert  coat,  which  added  still 
more  to  his  dignity,  while  his  green-striped  trowsers  were  evi- 
dently intended  for  a  man  some  few  feet  shorter  than  their 
present  occupant.  The  old-fashioned  shoes  were  of  such  a 
character  as  to  require  no  Roentgen  Ray  to  reveal  their  contents, 
although  we  must  credit  one  with  having  two,  and  the  other  three 
brass  buttons  still  in  service. 

But  the  features  of  the  man  were  even  still  more  remarkable 
than  his  costume.  His  face  was  long,  very  smooth,  and  term- 
inated in  a  jaw  which  showed  decided  propensities  to  the 

[68] 


lantern  type.  Below  the  sharply  projecting  eyebrows  were  set 
two  small  eyes  so  deep  within  their  sockets  that  I  could  scarcely 
penetrate  their  depth.  His  nose  was  straight,  long,  and  very 
thin,  while  somewhat  below  the  nasal  projection  was  a  narrow 
line  of  about  an  inch  in  length,  which  I  am  almost  inclined  to 
believe  was  his  mouth,  since  it  underwent  a  remarkable  series  of 
parabolic  evolutions  as  the  illustrious  being  articulated.  From 
beneath  the  high  silk  hat,  streamed  out  in  all  directions  Hiram 
Porter  McGinniss's  stubborn,  dusky  hair,  taking  advantage  of 
every  incongruity  of  the  silken  rim,  to  air  a  few  more  of  its  rigid 
brothers  in  the  sun. 

As  Hiram  Porter  came  to  meet  us  on  that  fine  morning, 
there  was  a  decided  tendency  among  our  party  to  risibility,  but 
he,  thinking  that  the  first  view  of  the  Park  had  pleased  us  so 
greatly,  hastened  to  invite  us  to  his  observatory,  of  which  he 
was  extremely  proud.  This  building,  situated  on  the  highest 
eminence  of  the  mountain,  was  just  tall  enough  to  rise  beyond 
the  obstructing  trees.  Above  the  doorway  leading  to  this  edifice, 
was  hung  a  green  sign  painted  on  a  purple  background,  reading 
"  Please  Regishter."  So  we  all  went  up  to  the  legal  looking  book 
and  "regishtered,"  in  obedience  to  our  host's  request.  This 
done,  Hiram  Porter  offered  to  lead  the  way  to  the  summit  of 
his  outlook.  Upward  we  went  one  by  one,  following  our  giant 
leader,  and  suppressing  to  the  best  of  our  ability  the  rising 
inclination  of  laughter. 

Before  ascending  the  mountain,  we  had  been  told  by  the 
townspeople  of  Crown  Point,  that  Hiram  Porter  had  committed 
to  memory  ar  elaborately  constructed  speech  concerning  the 
history  of  the  surrounding  country.  But  we  were  also  informed 
that,  if  any  one  interrupted  him  in  his  discourse,  he  was  not  able 
to  resume  the  narrative  from  the  interrupted  point,  but  like  an 
embarrassed  school  boy  was  compelled  to  begin  the  story  entirely 
anew.  Being  anxious  to  hear  this  great  literary  production,  one 
of  our  party  suggested  that  we  would  like  to  know  something  of 
the  history  of  the  magnificent  country  that  encircled  us,  where- 
upon Hiram  Porter  threw  back  his  great  shoulders,  took  in  a 
very  deep  breath,  pointed  his  cane  to  a  particularly  high  peak, 
and  gave,  in  a  nasal  monotone  at  a  startling  rate,  the  following 
speech  "verbatim  et  literatim." 

"Standing  upon  the  superior  apex  of  this  observatory  of 
'Cold  Spring  and  Grand  View  Park/  you  may  see  first,  in  the 
direction  of  my  rod,  Dix  Peak;  next  you  observe  Nipple  Top, 
Mount  Marcy,  Crow's  Nest,  and  Deer's  Leap.  Now  coming  into 
Vermont  State,  you  may  distinguish  Mount  Mansfield,  Camel's 
Hump,  Grand  View,  and  the  Three  Brothers.  Focusing  your 
eye  immediately  below  our  position,  you  may  follow  the  wind- 
swept waters  of  the  historic  Lake  Champlain  for  sixty  miles. 

[69] 


Here  to  the  south  we  note  with  moistened  eyes  the  retrograde 
metamorphosis  of  the  disintegrating  walls  of  Fort  Ticonderoga, 
stormed  and  captured  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1775.  There, 
upon  that  peak  in  the  distance  you  may  see,  if  your  vision  fails 
you  not,  the  scene  of  many  of  Roger's  dangerous  death  struggles 
with  the  Indians.  It  was  on  this  eminence  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  seventeenth  of  April,  1752,  that  the  famous 
English  hunter  loaded  his  old-fashioned  arquebus  and  killed 
three  Massaquois  Indians,  two  bears,  and  five  wild  boars  in 
attempting  to  protect  himself  and  family  from  the  bloody  terrors 
of  a  watery  grave.  Perhaps  no  more  sacred  spot  exists  between 
the  wave-tprmented  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  and  the  sunny 
coasts  of  the  Pacific,  than  the  sparkling  sheet  of  water  on  our 
right  known  as  Bulgwaggie  Bay.  Ah,  yes!  so  immortal  has  that 
name  become,  that  we  adventure  to  assert  that  when  chronicles 
shall  be  no  more,  when  libraries  are  buried  in  the  oblivions  of 
the  past,  when  historians  h^ve  ceased  to  be,  yea,  when  even 
Hiram  Porter  McGinniss  shall  have  lain  down  the  weary  pen, 
upon  his  last  worthy  page,  even  then,  I  say  the  name  of  Bulg- 
waggie Bay  will  resound  from  shore  to  shore,  and  from  ocean 
to  ocean,  for  there  it  was  that  Mrs.  Bulgwaggie  was  drownded!" 

But  just  as  Hiram  Porter  was  completing  this  last  glorious 
sentence,  one  saucy  little  Miss  of  our  party  impertinently 
interrupted  him.  The  great  orator  looked  confused  for  a  moment, 
in  endeavoring  to  recall  the  completion  of  the  sentence,  but 
then  gave  up  the  attempt  and  began  the  speech  anew  at  his 
opening  sentence. 

But  Hiram  Porter  McGinniss  had  yet  another  talent  to 
display  before  our  departure;  for  as  we  were  about  to  leave  the 
observatory  he  produced  an  old  cracked  fiddle,  and  squeezed 
the  tail-piece  so  mercilessly  between  his  chin  and  shoulder  that 
the  instrument  fairly  shrieked  for  deliverance.  I  think  most  of 
the  selections  the  musician  played  that  day  must  have  been 
either  composed  or  arranged  by  Hiram  Porter  McGinniss.  For 
although  he  performed  as  much  as  an  hour,  I  could  not  recognize 
one  familiar  tune  in  the  concert,  except  once,  when  I  did  think 
I  heard  a  new  arrangement  of  "My  country,  'tis  of  thee"  trans- 
posed to  a  minor  scale. 

As  we  turned  once  more  to  go,  Hiram  accompanied  us  to 
the  gate,  incessantly  wriggling  the  bow  of  his  fiddle  all  the  way. 
At  last  we  bade  the  man  farewell,  and  then,  seating  himself  upon 
the  top  rail  of  the  gate,  he  struck  up  a  melancholy  tune  for  our 
departure,  as  soberly  as  if  he  were  playing  a  postlude  for  some 
great  cathedral.  In  this  ludicrous  position  we  lost  sight  of  our 
curious  host  as  we  pursued  our  way.  But  the  harsh  tones  of  his 
instrument  followed  us  farther,  and  long  after  we  had  left  the 
old  gateway  of  "Cold  Spring  and  Grand  View  Park,"  fragments 

[70] 


of  the  fiddler's  strains  were  wafted  to  us  by  the  wind.  But  as  we 
neared  the  historic  town  once  more,  the  shrill  notes  died  away 
in  the  more  melodious  song  of  the  rustling  trees,  and  our  ears 
were  again  restored  to  the  harmonious  melodies  of  nature. 

ALFRED  BELDEN  RICE. 


[71] 


The  Ethan  Allen  Monument 

From  my  earliest  days,  graveyards  have  presented  but 
little  attraction  to  me;  the  damp  walls  of  their  vaulted  tombs 
have  excited  but  little  of  my  interest;  and  I  am  accustomed  to 
choose  fairer  fields  for  my  moonlight  rambles  than  the  melan- 
choly cities  of  the  dead.  And  yet  among  these  mournful  burial 
places  there  is  occasionally  one  whose  artistic  beauties  or  his- 
toric interests  tempt  me  to  enter  its  doleful  dominions.  Such 
an  exceptional  place  is  the  "Green  Mountain  Cemetery"  of 
Burlington,  Vermont.  This  extensive  city  of  tombs  lies  on  a 
miniature  plateau  to  the  east  of  the  village,  and  affords  a  pleasant 
view  of  the  fertile  Winooski  Valley,  and  the  famous  Green 
Mountains  of  Vermont. 

Buried  beneath  the  soil  of  this  suburban  cemetery,  there 
rests  amid  the  mountains  he  loved  so  well  in  life,  the  body  of 
Ethan  Allen,  the  hero  of  Ticonderoga.  And  above  the  dust  of 
his  remains  there  rises  the  tall  and  stately  monument  which 
occasioned  my  visit  to  the  melancholy  place. 

There  extends  about  the  pedestal  of  the  rising  shaft  of 
stone  a  dusky  fence  of  antique  iron,  whose  pointed  pickets  are 
the  bayonets  of  Revolutionary  rifles,  and  whose  bases  are  the 
butts  of  guns.  Within  this  unique  enclosure,  and  surrounding 
the  base  of  the  great  monument,  are  the  graves  of  Allen's  near 
relations.  Each  grave  supports  a  gloomy  slab  of  slate,  and  each 
slab  tells  its  simple  story  of  the  dust  below.  In  the  center  of  this 
group  of  clustered  tombs  stands  a  highly  polished  pedestal  of 
Barre  granite.  Upon  its  face  is  held  a  figured  brazen  tablet,  and 
upon  this  tablet  is  inscribed  an  earnest  tribute  of  the  "Green 
Mountain  Boys,"  to  their  celebrated  leader.  There  rises  far 
above  this  memorial  pedestal,  a  stately  shaft  of  glassy  smooth- 
ness, terminating  in  a  second  graceful  pedestal  of  stone. 
Mounted  upon  this,  some  thirty  feet  above  his  mouldering  dust 
in  the  grave,  stands  out  the  dauntless  figure  of  Ethan  Allen. 

He  is  not  clad  in  the  brilliant  costume  of  a  dress  parade;  he 
is  not  posing  as  a  model  for  an  artist's  brush;  he  is  not  con- 
scious of  the  admiring  crowds  that  lift  their  eyes  to  him.  No. 
His  well  worn  hat  is  cocked  upon  his  head  with  little  care;  his 
coat  has  witnessed  fiercer  scenes  than  those  of  the  tailor's  ware- 
room;  and  his  military  boots  have  lost  much  of  their  dazzling 
luster,  in  the  service  of  their  master.  But  upon  his  contracted 
brow  we  read  determination,  his  outstretched  arm  reveals  a 
commanding  will,  and  in  his  deep  set  eyes  is  fixed  a  dauntless 

(72} 


purpose.  Every  muscle  in  his  frame  seems  contracted  to  the 
last  degree,  and  every  nerve  sensitive  to  the  slightest  sound. 
His  lips  are  tightly  drawn  together,  and  his  expression,  grave 
and  resolute.  And  yet  upon  that  stern,  commanding  face,  I 
almost  faintly  read  a  softer  line,  I  seem  to  see  a  tenderer  light 
gleam  a  moment  in  those  deepset  eyes.  But  in  another  instant, 
it  is  gone,  and  as  I  stand  beneath  the  irresistible  man,  I  feel  that 
I  am  the  unfortunate  Captain  de  la  Plaine  holding  the  valuable 
fort  of  Ticonderoga,  and  as  my  enemy  demands  my  stronghold, 
I  tremblingly  ask  "By  whose  authority?"  But  the  dauntless 
Allen  thunders  out  in  audacious  tones,  "By  the  authority  of 
the  Great  Jehovah,  and  the  Continental  Congress!"  I  yield  my 
fort  and  all  is  lost! 


(73) 


Wordsworth 

Few  men  of  the  literary  world  have  enjoyed  a  longer  period 
of  activity  than  Wordsworth.  Few  men  too  have  been  so  for- 
tunate in  the  chronological  setting  of  their  activities.  Born  as 
he  was  in  1770  Wordsworth  came  into  the  world  at  a  time  when 
as  John  Merely  puts  it  "most  of  the  great  lights  of  the  i8th 
century  were  still  burning,  though  burning  low."  Pope,  it  is 
true,  and  all  the  other  Queen  Anne  poets  were  gone.  But  Gray 
lived  on  until  1771;  Goldsmith  died  in  1774,  while  Johnson  passed 
away  when  our  poet  was  already  fourteen  years  of  age.  Hume  died 
in  1776  and  Voltaire  and  Rousseau  both  followed  him  two  years 
later.  Although  Cowper  was  some  forty  years  older  than  Words- 
worth it  was  not  until  1780  that  Cowper  seriously  began  to 
write.  Crabbe  (to  whom  Wordsworth  is  indebted  for  his  choice 
of  themes  from  rural  life)  was  really  his  contemporary,  his 
career  extending  from  1754-1832.  The  two  great  contempor- 
aries of  Wordsworth  were  Scott  and  Coleridge,  born  in  1771  and 
1772  respectively.  But  Wordsworth  lived  to  see  yet  other 
illustrious  men  spring  up  around  him.  Byron  was  the  first  of 
them  who  came  in  1788,  Shelly  and  Keats  followed  in  1792  and 
'95.  Still  later  in  1812  Browning  came  into  the  world;  and  in 
1830  Wordsworth  could  read  the  first  volume  of  Tennyson's 
poems. 

Such  men  as  these  then  represent  the  literary  environment 
and  companionship  of  Wordsworth.  Yet  with  all  these  at  his 
very  elbows  the  poet  of  Nature  stood  apart,  alone.  Though  he 
admired  Scott  and  Southey  as  friends,  he  cared  little  for  their 
poetry.  What  little  merit  he  would  allow  Byron  he  thought  was 
largely  due  to  his  stealing  from  himself.  "Goethe,"  he  said 
"tried  the  universal  without  ever  being  able  to  avoid  exposing 
his  individuality,  which  his  character  was  not  of  a  kind  to 
dignify."  Crabbe  we  have  said  gave  the  poet  certain  sugges- 
tions relative  to  themes,  but  Coleridge  was  the  only  man  with 
whom  Wordsworth  had  any  close  poetical  communion.  But  his 
admiration  for  Coleridge  never  extended  to  servitude  in  his  art, 
and  it  still  remains  true  that  Wordsworth  had  "no  teachers  nor 
inspirers  save  nature  and  solitude."  (John  Merely.) 

How  then  we  must  ask  did  Wordsworth  differ  from  his 
predecessors,  and  what  is  the  quality  of  his  distinctive  note 
which  gives  him  his  place  in  literature?  We  cannot  take  Words- 
worth's own  answer  as  adequate.  For  he  held  that  he  was 
nothing  unless  he  was  a  teacher,  and  didacticism  however  high 

[74] 


it  may  place  a  man  in  the  realm  of  utility  cannot  give  him  a 
permanent  position  in  poetry.  Wordsworth's  merit  rather  lies 
in  his  new  interpretation  of  nature,  his  simple  portrayal  of 
common  life,  and  his  representation  of  the  simpler  and  uni- 
versal feelings  of  man.  And  we  say  this  at  the  risk  of  differing 
from  Mr.  Swinburne  who  if  I  understand  his  essay  thinks  that 
Wordsworth  has  hitherto  been  admired  for  everything  he  does 
not  possess  and  for  little  or  nothing  which  he  has  in  the  highest 
degree.  Thus  in  Mr.  Swinburne's  estimation  Wordsworth  is 
the  great  heroic  poet  of  England  but  Crabbe  easily  equals  him 
in  the  portrayal  of  common  life  while  Burns  far  distances  him. 

Wordsworth's  attitude  toward  nature  was,  we  have  said, 
new.  Perhaps  more  strictly  it  might  be  said  to  be  a  revival  of 
the  old.  In  early  days  poets  had  put  their  ears  to  nature  and 
written  their  poems  at  her  dictation;  thus  was  Wordsworth's 
attitude.  But  after  the  days  of  those  early  poets,  men  had  given 
up  the  old  method  and  studied  nature  through  books.  With  the 
conventional  phrases  of  such  men  Wordsworth  had  no  patience 
and  his  revolt  against  this  kind  of  nature  study  he  well  expresses 
in  his  "Expostulation  and  Reply."  "Up,  up,  my  friend,  and 
quit  your  books,"  etc.  Wordsworth  is  thus  preeminently  a  poet 
of  nature;  but  nature  with  Wordsworth  does  not  mean  mere 
external  nature;  it  includes  human  nature.  In  this  he  differs 
widely  from  Byron.  For  when  Byron  seeks  a  "pleasure  in  the 
pathless  woods,"  it  is  a  pleasure  of  a  creature  coming  into  con- 
tact with  something  of  which  he  is  separate.  But  in  Words- 
worth this  is  not  so.  Nature,  in  Wordsworth's  conception  and 
poetry  is  full  of  souls,  as  Mr.  Pater  I  think  puts  it,  and  when  man 
comes  into  contact  with  external  nature  it  is  but  the  addition  of 
another  soul.  Of  this  however  I  shall  speak  in  a  moment  when 
considering  the  philosophy  of  Wordsworth. 

The  portrayal  of  common  life  and  of  simple  feelings  are  also 
peculiar  marks  of  Wordsworth's  genius.  And  these  show  at  the 
same  time  the  merits  and  defects  of  the  poet.  This  leads  us  back 
to  the  old  statement  that  Wordsworth's  sphere  is  limited,  that 
his  audience  is  not  universal.  The  man  who  paints  the  shepherds 
and  lowly  men  of  the  world  has  not  given  us  an  entire  picture  of 
life  though  he  has  given  us  a  very  pleasing  one,  and  Wordsworth, 
in  telling  us  of  the  simple  feelings  of  humble  men  has  a  wonderful 
power.  His  sphere  is  paternal  affection,  brotherly  and  sisterly 
love,  and  his  success  in  this  is  displayed  in  such  poems  as 
"Michael,"  the  "Reverie  of  Poor  Susan,"  "The  Brothers,"  etc. 
That  he  had  little  talent  in  portraying  the  more  violent  passions 
of  man  he  proved  too  well  in  his  dramatic  effort  "The  Borderers" 
a  story  of  unmatched  horribleness  and  unprobability. 

But  even  if  Wordsworth  had  written  nothing  more  than 
"Michael,"  I  think  Mr.  Swinburne  would  stand  refuted  in  his 

[751 


statement  concerning  the  inferiority  of  Wordsworth's  portrayal  of 
simple  life.  Nothing  in  Crabbe  or  Burns  has  appealed  to  me 
through  its  directness,  pathos  and  simpleness  so  much  as  this 
little  poem  of  "Michael." 

Let  us  pass  on  to  consider  the  philosophy  and  religion  of 
Wordsworth  poetry.  In  both  spheres  it  seems  useless  to  try  to 
frame  from  his  poetry  any  extensive  schemes  or  theories  of 
Wordsworthean  philosophy  or  religion,  because  none  existed  in 
the  poet's  mind.  But  he  does  at  times  give  us  hints  of  his  beliefs 
which  are  exceedingly  interesting  and  cannot  be  overlooked. 
In  looking  into  the  philosophy  and  religion  of  Wordsworth  we 
are  led  to  a  consideration  of  the  poems  "Intimations  of  Immor- 
tality," "Ode  to  Duty"  and  "Lines  written  Tintem  Abbey." 
The  first  of  these  contains  most  philosophy;  the  second  and  third 
most  morality  and  religion. 

The  "  Intimations  of  Immortality  "  is  a  modern  expression  of 
the  old  Platonic  argument  that  man  must  live  after  death  because 
he  lived  before  he  was  born.  Plato  you  remember  reasoned  that 
certain  intentive  ideas  such  as  those  of  time,  space,  right  God 
are  merely  "reminiscenses  of  things  learned  in  a  previous  state 
of  being."  This  old  theory,  though  it  appears  ludicrous  to  many 
of  us  at  the  present  day,  has  found  many  advocates  among 
philosophers,  theologians  and  poets.  Philo  and  Origen  sup- 
ported it;  Kant  and  Julius  Muller  have  held  it  in  Germany,  and 
Edward  Beecher  in  America.  And  as  Prof.  Strong  in  his  "Religion 
of  the  Poets"  adds  "it  may  not  be  generally  known  that  a 
sort  of  metempsychosis  has  been  favored  in  Scotland  and  in 
our  own  day  by  Prof.  Knight,  the  editor  and  biographer  of  Words- 
worth. Perhaps  it  is  worth  while  to  read  again  a  stanza  of 
Wordsworth's  poem  in  order  to  sum  up  the  consideration  of 
Wordsworth's  philosophy. 

In  speaking  of  the  religion  of  Wordsworth  it  is  very  im- 
portant to  recognize  that  a  poet's  religion  is  to  be  judged  by 
what  he  says,  not  by  what  he  does  not  say.  We  cannot  condemn 
Shakespeare  as  atheistical  because  we.  cannot  discover  his  par- 
ticular creed;  neither  must  we  lay  aside  Wordsworth  because  he 
has  failed  to  write  church  hymns  for  our  denomination.  It  has 
been  said  that  Wordsworth  is  not  a  Christian  poet.  That  is 
perhaps  true;  yet  he  is  nowhere  antagonistic  to  Christianity. 
His  faith  is  in  the  great  truths  of  natural  religion,  in  a  nature  all 
pervaded  by  the  Spirit  of  God  and  as  Prof.  Strong  again  remarks 
"men  will  not  believe  in  supernatural  revelation,  unless  they 
first  believe  in  a  God  from  whom  such  supernatural  revelation 
may  come."  In  Tintem  Abbey  we  find  Wordsworth's  whole 
religion  well  set  forth;  in  it  we  can  see  that  Wordsworth  re- 
garded Nature  as  Goethe  phrased  it  "the  living  garment  of  the 
Deity."  When  we  put  ourselves  in  this  Wordsworthean  atti- 

[761 


tude  toward  Nature  we  can  appreciate  the  poet  when  he  says 

To  me  the  meanest  flower  that  blows  can  give 
Thoughts  that  do  often  lie  too  deep  for  tears. 

and  we  shall  not  commit  the  folly  of  saying  with  John  Merely 
that  it  is  nonsense  to  suppose  that  "one  impulse  from  a  vernal 
wood  can  teach  you  anything  of  moral  evil  and  of  good  or  of 
anything  else." 

To  sum  up  then  this  brief  report  it  may  be  said  that  though 
Wordsworth  was  limited  in  his  sphere,  yet  in  that  sphere  all  of 
his  powers  seem  to  have  perfectly  harmonized.  His  intellectual 
and  moral  sides  formed  perfect  symmetry.  As  Prof.  Dowden 
has  remarked,  Byron's  nobler  impulses  were  met  and  baffled  by 
his  baser  passions;  with  Keats  sensation  sometimes  tyrannizes 
over  reflection;  in  Coleridge  the  will  failed  to  sustain  the  imagina- 
tion, but  in  Wordsworth  there  exists  a  complete  harmony  of 
faculties.  In  interpreting  nature  for  us  Wordsworth  has  done 
what  no  other  poet  has  done  so  well.  Though  he  was  not  alive 
to  the  fragrances  of  nature;  though  he  had  not  the  sense  of  smell 
of  Keats  and  Herrick  his  eye  and  ear  were  keen  to  see  and  hear 
what  none  had  perceived  before  what  perhaps  few  would  have 
perceived  today  were  it  not  for  their  volume  of  Wordsworth. 

THE  END 


(77 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  DATE  stamped  below. 


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